DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 8/03/2023 has been entered and considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4-15, 19, and 22-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al (US2020/0106647 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 29, Chen teaches a method/apparatus for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) (Abstract), comprising:
a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (Para. 0120):
receiving, from a base station, a configuration indicating a plurality of resource sets for a bandwidth part for the UE, each of the plurality of resource sets comprising reference signal resources that correspond to one or more antenna ports of the UE (Paras. 0067-0075; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; i.e. SRS reads on the reference signal resource);
receiving, from the base station, an activation message instructing the UE to activate at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078; under the condition that the DCI indicating activation of the uplink BWP includes aperiodic SRS triggering signaling, the UE determines at least one SRS resource set corresponding to the uplink BWP as an SRS resource set which carries SRS transmission triggered by the aperiodic SRS triggering signaling); and
transmitting a reference signal over the activated at least one resource set using the bandwidth part and at least one antenna port of the one or more antenna ports based at least in part on the activation message, the at least one antenna port corresponding to the activated at least one resource set (Paras. 0067-0078; In the operation 403, the UE transmits an SRS on the uplink BWP according to the SRS parameter configuration).
Regarding claims 4 and 22, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein receiving the activation message instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets comprises: receiving/transmitting a sounding reference signal resource indicator comprising an indication that the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets is activated for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078; the DCI indicating activation of the uplink BWP includes aperiodic SRS triggering signaling, the UE determines at least one SRS resource set corresponding to the uplink BWP as an SRS resource set which carries SRS transmission triggered by the aperiodic SRS triggering signaling).
Regarding claims 5 and 23, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: receiving an indication of a number of transmit antenna ports for activation at the UE, a number of receive antenna ports for activation at the UE, or a combination thereof (Paras. 0067-0078 and 0087-0092; assuming the usage configuration of the SRS resource set is beam management, the UE determines that the antenna port for SRS transmission is 1, 2 or 4, and in addition, different SRS resources in the SRS resource set may adopt different beams to transmit the SRS).
Regarding claims 6 and 24, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: receiving a control message indicating a reference signal switching mode for activation at the UE for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2).
Regarding claim 7, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: activating the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part based at least in part on a set of rules that indicates respective reference signal resources to activate for each of the plurality of resource sets, a mapping between one or more antenna ports of the UE and reference signal resources for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part, or a combination thereof (Paras. 0067-0078 and 0087-0092; in case that SRS triggering signaling in the DCI indicates an aperiodic triggering state, the UE is required to perform aperiodic SRS transmission on one or more SRS resource sets corresponding to the aperiodic triggering state; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP).
Regarding claims 8 and 25, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein receiving the activation message instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets comprises: receiving an indication to activate a number of resource sets of the plurality of resource sets, a number of reference signal resources of a plurality of reference signal resources per resource set, or a combination thereof, for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078 and 0087-0092; under the condition that the DCI indicating activation of the uplink BWP includes aperiodic SRS triggering signaling, the UE determines at least one SRS resource set corresponding to the uplink BWP as an SRS resource set which carries SRS transmission triggered by the aperiodic SRS triggering signaling).
Regarding claim 9, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: receiving a second activation message instructing the UE to deactivate one or more resource sets of the plurality of resource sets; and deactivating the one or more resource sets of the plurality of resource sets (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2).
Regarding claim 10, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein a first set of reference signal resources is activated and a second set of reference signal resources is deactivated according to an activation rule based at least in part on the second activation message, the activation rule indicating activation of reference signal resources based at least in part on a reference signal resource identifier (ID), a resource set ID, a codebook usage, a default set of reference signal resources, a default set of resource sets, a signal measurement of one or more antenna ports of the UE, a previous antenna port configuration, or any combination thereof (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2 . The SRS resource configurations corresponding to BWP1 and BWP2 are pre-configured by the network device through the high-layer signaling respectively, and SRS resources corresponding to BWP1 and BWP2 may have different periods and time slot offsets; assuming the usage configuration of the SRS resource set is beam management, the UE determines that the antenna port for SRS transmission is 1, 2 or 4, and in addition, different SRS resources in the SRS resource set may adopt different beams to transmit the SRS).
Regarding claims 11 and 27, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: receiving a second activation message instructing the UE to reactivate one or more deactivated resources according to a reactivation rule, wherein the reactivation rule is based at least in part on a reference signal resource identifier (ID), a resource set ID, a lookup table, or any combination thereof (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2 . The SRS resource configurations corresponding to BWP1 and BWP2 are pre-configured by the network device through the high-layer signaling respectively, and SRS resources corresponding to BWP1 and BWP2 may have different periods and time slot offsets; i.e. each BWP has a different period and would activated and deactivated based on the periodicity of each BWP).
Regarding claim 12, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein receiving the activation message instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets further comprises: determining to reactivate the at least one resource set of a plurality of deactivated resource sets, at least one reference signal resource of a plurality of deactivated reference signal resources per resource set, or a combination thereof, for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part based at least in part on an antenna port mapping configuration for the UE (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2 . The SRS resource configurations corresponding to BWP1 and BWP2 are pre-configured by the network device through the high-layer signaling respectively, and SRS resources corresponding to BWP1 and BWP2 may have different periods and time slot offsets; assuming the usage configuration of the SRS resource set is beam management, the UE determines that the antenna port for SRS transmission is 1, 2 or 4, and in addition, different SRS resources in the SRS resource set may adopt different beams to transmit the SRS; i.e. each BWP has a different period and would activated and deactivated based on the periodicity of each BWP).
Regarding claim 13, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: receiving an indication of a number of antenna ports of the UE per resource set or per reference signal resource to use for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part, wherein the indication comprises a set of bits indicating an antenna port configuration for the UE, a bitmap indicating which of the number of antenna ports of the UE to use for reference signal transmission, an activation rule, or any combination thereof (Paras. 0060, 0067-0078, 0082, and 0087-0092; the DCI including 2 bit BWP indication information. For example, assuming that the four BWPs are BWP1, BWP2, BWP3 and BWP4 and the 2 bit BWP indication information is 00, the active uplink BWP is BWP1. If the 2 bit BWP indication information is 11, the active uplink BWP is BWP4, and so on; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; i.e. the bits determine the BWP and the BWP is mapped to the antenna port).
Regarding claim 14, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: selecting a transmit power per antenna port for reference signal transmission based at least in part on the number of antenna ports (Paras. 0060, 0067-0078, 0082, and 0087-0092, and 0182-0184; assuming the usage configuration of the SRS resource set is beam management, the UE determines that the antenna port for SRS transmission is 1, 2 or 4, and in addition, different SRS resources in the SRS resource set may adopt different beams to transmit the SRS; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; the SRS parameter configuration includes the power control parameter configuration of the SRS resource set; and in terms of transmitting the SRS on the uplink BWP according to the SRS parameter configuration, the processing unit 601 is configured to: determine transmitted power for SRS transmission on the SRS resource set according to the power control parameter configuration of the SRS resource set; and transmit the SRS on the uplink BWP according to the determined transmitted power).
Regarding claims 15 and 28, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein receiving the activation message instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets comprises: receiving/transmitting downlink control information that comprises a sounding reference signal configuration instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078; under the condition that the DCI indicating activation of the uplink BWP includes aperiodic SRS triggering signaling, the UE determines at least one SRS resource set corresponding to the uplink BWP as an SRS resource set which carries SRS transmission triggered by the aperiodic SRS triggering signaling).
Regarding claims 19 and 30, Chen teaches a method/apparatus for wireless communications at a base station (Abstract), comprising:
a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to (Para. 0044):
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration indicating a plurality of resource sets for a bandwidth part for the UE, each of the plurality of resource sets comprising reference signal resources that correspond to one or more antenna ports of the UE (Paras. 0067-0075; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; i.e. SRS reads on the reference signal resource);
transmitting, to the UE, an activation message instructing the UE to activate at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078; under the condition that the DCI indicating activation of the uplink BWP includes aperiodic SRS triggering signaling, the UE determines at least one SRS resource set corresponding to the uplink BWP as an SRS resource set which carries SRS transmission triggered by the aperiodic SRS triggering signaling); and
receiving a reference signal over the activated at least one resource set using the bandwidth part and at least one antenna port of the one or more antenna ports based at least in part on the activation message, the at least one antenna port corresponding to the activated at least one resource set (Paras. 0067-0078; In the operation 403, the UE transmits an SRS on the uplink BWP according to the SRS parameter configuration).
Regarding claim 26, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: transmitting a second activation message instructing the UE to deactivate one or more resource sets of the plurality of resource sets (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2).
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 2-3 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US2020/0106647 A1) in view of ZTE (ZTE., et al., "MAC CE for Activation/Deactivation of Semi-Persistent SRS", 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 Meeting #101, 3GPP Draft, R2-1801932 MAC CE for Activation or Deactivation of Semi- Persistent SRS, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Mobile Competence Centre, 650, Route Des Lucioles, F-06921 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France, RAN WG2, No. Athens, Greece, 20180226 - 20180302, 14 February 2018 (2018-02-14), 6 Pages, XP051399044, Section 2.) IDS submitted by Applicant.
Regarding claims 2 and 20, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein receiving the activation message instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets comprises: receiving/transmitting bits that activates the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part, wherein each bit corresponds to a reference signal resource in the activated at least one resource set (Paras. 0060, 0067-0078, 0082, and 0087-0092; the DCI including 2 bit BWP indication information. For example, assuming that the four BWPs are BWP1, BWP2, BWP3 and BWP4 and the 2 bit BWP indication information is 00, the active uplink BWP is BWP1. If the 2 bit BWP indication information is 11, the active uplink BWP is BWP4, and so on; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; i.e. the SRS resource set for the BWP is activated by the bits in the indication information).
However, while Chen teaches the SRS resource set for the BWP is activated by the bits in the indication information (Para. 0060), he does not specifically disclose receiving/transmitting a bitmap.
ZTE teaches MAC CE for semi-persistent SRS activation/deactivation (Introduction). He further teaches receiving/transmitting a bitmap (Sec. 2; For the indication of a SRS resource set in MAC CE, two schemes are considered. One is using bitmap).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in ZTE with the teachings as in Chen. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for a semi-persistent SRS resource set is activated/deactivated by MAC CE (ZTE at Sec. 1).
Regarding claims 3 and 21, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches wherein receiving the activation message instructing the UE to activate the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets comprises: receiving/transmitting bits that activates the at least one resource set of the plurality of resource sets for reference signal transmission using the bandwidth part, wherein all reference signal resources in the activated at least one resource set are activated (Paras. 0060, 0067-0078, 0082, and 0087-0092; the DCI including 2 bit BWP indication information. For example, assuming that the four BWPs are BWP1, BWP2, BWP3 and BWP4 and the 2 bit BWP indication information is 00, the active uplink BWP is BWP1. If the 2 bit BWP indication information is 11, the active uplink BWP is BWP4, and so on; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; i.e. the SRS resource set for the BWP is activated by the bits in the indication information).
However, while Chen teaches the SRS resource set for the BWP is activated by the bits in the indication information (Para. 0060), he does not specifically disclose receiving/transmitting a bitmap.
ZTE teaches MAC CE for semi-persistent SRS activation/deactivation (Introduction). He further teaches receiving/transmitting a bitmap (Sec. 2; For the indication of a SRS resource set in MAC CE, two schemes are considered. One is using bitmap).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in ZTE with the teachings as in Chen. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for a semi-persistent SRS resource set is activated/deactivated by MAC CE (ZTE at Sec. 1).
Claims 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US2020/0106647 A1) in view of Zhang et al (US2019/0284588 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: a capability of the UE to support the plurality of resource sets for the bandwidth part, each of the plurality of resource sets comprising reference signal resources that correspond to one or more antenna ports of the UE (Paras. 0067-0078 and 0087-0092; assuming the usage configuration of the SRS resource set is beam management, the UE determines that the antenna port for SRS transmission is 1, 2 or 4, and in addition, different SRS resources in the SRS resource set may adopt different beams to transmit the SRS).
However, while Chen teaches a configuration of the SRS resource set, which would one of ordinary skill in the art would understand as the UE being capable of that function (Para. 0089), he does not specifically disclose transmitting an indication of a capability of the UE.
Zhang teaches uplink beam management and power control (Abstract). He further teaches transmitting an indication of a capability of the UE (Para. 0035; the UE 101 may be configured with one or more SRS resource sets as configured by the higher layer parameter SRS-ResourceSet. For each SRS resource set, the UE 101 may be configured with K≥1 SRS resources via higher layer parameter SRS-Resource, where the maximum value of K is indicated by UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Zhang with the teachings as in Chen. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhance uplink beam management and power control mechanisms (Zhang at Para. 0013).
Regarding claim 17, Chen teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Chen further teaches further comprising: a capability of the UE to support a set of antenna configurations for antenna switching within the bandwidth part (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the SRS parameter configuration includes a configuration of at least one SRS resource set in the uplink BWP; the configuration of the SRS resource includes at least one of: a time-frequency resource configuration of the SRS resource, a sequence configuration of the SRS resource, an antenna port configuration of the SRS resource; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2).
However, while Chen teaches a configuration of the antenna switching, which would one of ordinary skill in the art would understand as the UE being capable of that function (Para. 0089), he does not specifically disclose transmitting an indication of a capability of the UE.
Zhang teaches uplink beam management and power control (Abstract). He further teaches transmitting an indication of a capability of the UE (Para. 0035; the UE 101 may be configured with one or more SRS resource sets as configured by the higher layer parameter SRS-ResourceSet. For each SRS resource set, the UE 101 may be configured with K≥1 SRS resources via higher layer parameter SRS-Resource, where the maximum value of K is indicated by UE capability).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Zhang with the teachings as in Chen. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhance uplink beam management and power control mechanisms (Zhang at Para. 0013).
Claim 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US2020/0106647 A1) in view of Zhang et al (US2019/0284588 A1) further in view of Islam et al (US2022/0190886 A1).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of references Chen and Zhang teach the limitations of the previous claims. Zhang further teaches wherein transmitting the indication of the capability of the UE (Paras. 0067-0078, 0083, and 0087-0092; the UE starts corresponding to BWP2; the UE starts periodic SRS transmission in BWP1 according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP1, and the UE, after receiving the DCI including the BWP indication information, is required to be switched to BWP2 indicated by the BWP indication information and then performs periodic SRS transmission according to the SRS resource configuration corresponding to BWP2).
However, while Chen teaches a configuration of the antenna ports of the SRS resource (Para. 0075), he does not specifically disclose comprises: transmitting UE assistance information or uplink signaling indicating a UE preference for an antenna configuration of the set of antenna configurations.
Islam teaches a signaling mechanism for user equipment (UE) assistance feedback in a wireless communication system (Abstract). He further teaches comprises: transmitting UE assistance information or uplink signaling indicating a UE preference for an antenna configuration of the set of antenna configurations (Para. 0213; Example 6 may include a method comprising: identifying UE assistance information that includes UE preferences for one or more of a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part configuration, an antenna configuration).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Islam with the combination of references Chen and Zhang. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide different signaling mechanisms for providing UE assistance feedback to the network (Zhang at Para. 0041).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENT KRUEGER whose telephone number is (303)297-4238. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 MT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached on (571) 272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENT KRUEGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474