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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/01/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 05/04/2026, have been considered but are moot in view of new ground(s).
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 9-11, and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Papasakellariou (US 20180310257) in view of Wakabayashi et al. (US 20250203528), and in view of Reis et al. (US 20170171868).
Regarding claim 1, Papasakellariou discloses a method of calculating an uplink pathloss with a user equipment (UE), comprising:
determining, by the UE, a transmission power of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission (Txppusch), wherein the PUSCH transmission is from the UE to a base station (UE can derive a PUSCH transmission power P.sub.PUSCH,c(i); [0099]);
calculating a receiving power at the base station of a sounding reference signal (SRS) sent from the UE to at the base station (Rxpsrs) (gNB can determine a measured SRS reception power at the gNB; [0129]);
wherein the receiving power at the base station of the SRS sent from the UE is calculated based on a transmission power of the SRS (TXPsrs) sent by the UE to the base station (gNB can again obtain the PL measurement from a power headroom report for an UL data channel transmission and a measured received power for the UL data channel transmission, for example from the DMRS associated with the UL data channel transmission. Further, the gNB can obtain the PL measurement based on SRS transmissions from the UE where the gNB can configure the SRS transmission power or can derive the SRS transmission power from a power headroom report for an UL data channel transmission when the SRS transmission power and the UL data channel transmission power are linked; [0153]);
the receiving power at the base station of the SRS sent from the UE is different from the transmission power of the SRS (TXPsrs) sent by the UE (gNB can obtain a PL measurement for UL transmissions from a UE by measuring a received power of signal transmissions, such as SRS transmissions, from the UE. An SRS transmission can be configured by the gNB to the UE to occur periodically, based on higher layer configuration, or to occur dynamically based on triggering by a DCI format conveyed in a PDCCH. The gNB can determine a PL as a ratio between an SRS transmission power at the UE and a measured SRS reception power at the gNB. Therefore, the gNB needs to be aware of the SRS transmission power; [0129]), and
calculating the uplink pathloss based on the Txppusch and the Rxpsrs (SRS transmission power can be determined in association with a PUSCH transmission power as in Equation 5; [0107].
gNB measures a PL experienced by transmissions from the UE. The gNB can then configure the measured PL to the UE. gNB can determine a PL as a ratio between an SRS transmission power at the UE and a measured SRS reception power at the gNB; [0128-0129]).
Papasakellariou does not expressly disclose calculating an uplink pathloss by a user equipment (UE); calculating, by the UE, a receiving power at the base station, and wherein the receiving power at the base station of a signal sent from the UE is calculated by the UE based on a transmission power of the signal sent by the UE to the base station.
In an analogous art, Wakabayashi discloses calculating an uplink pathloss by a user equipment (UE) (base station 1016 transmits (S1136) the measurement of the received signal power (at the uplink TRP 1014) of the SRS transmissions to the UE 1012. Using the transmission power of the SRS transmissions (as determined by the UE 1012) and the measurement of the received signal power received from the base station 1016, the UE 1012 calculates (S1138) the uplink pathloss between the UE 1012 and the uplink TRP 1014; [0114]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Wakabayashi into the system of Papasakellariou in order to enable measurements of an uplink pathloss between a UE and an infrastructure equipment with an uplink only for the UE, where it is not possible to rely on conventional downlink transmissions (Wakabayashi; [0115]).
The combination of Papasakellariou and Wakabayashi does not expressly disclose calculating, by the UE, a receiving power at the base station, and wherein the receiving power at the base station of a signal sent from the UE is calculated by the UE based on a transmission power of the signal sent by the UE to the base station.
In an analogous art, Reis discloses calculating, by the UE, a receiving power at the base station, and wherein the receiving power at the base station of a signal sent from the UE is calculated by the UE based on a transmission power of the signal sent by the UE to the base station (the link budget equation may be based on a simplified equation where the received (Rx) power is equal to the transmitted (Tx) power plus gains minus losses: Rx Power (dB)=Tx Power (dB)+Gains (dB)−Losses (dB); [0063].
the terminal 410 (e.g., a mobile device) may then be responsible for determining for itself whether it is allowed to transmit. For example, the terminal 410 may calculate the link budget to each receiver having an approximated protection zone that covers the terminal's current location; [0077]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Reis into the system of Papasakellariou and Wakabayashi in order to account for link budget so to ensure that no interference with incumbent receivers occurs (Reis; [0151]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Papasakellariou, Reis, and Wakabayashi, particularly Papasakellariou discloses wherein the Txppusch is determined based on a power headroom report (PHR) (When different functions correspond to different indexes d for configurations of a set of parameters used for determining a PUSCH transmission power, a UE can provide separate power headroom reports for each corresponding index d; [0176]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Papasakellariou, Reis, and Wakabayashi, particularly Papasakellariou discloses wherein the calculating the uplink pathloss comprises:
determining the TXPsrs based on the Txppusch (SRS transmission power can be determined in association with a PUSCH transmission power as in Equation 5; [0107]).
Wakabayashi discloses calculating the uplink pathloss based on a difference between the TXPsrs and the RXPsrs by PLsrs= Txpsrs- RXPsrs (After received the SRS received signal power measurement(s) and the SRS transmission power, the base station 1016 uses these to calculate (S1038) the uplink pathloss between the UE 1012 and the uplink TRP 1014. The uplink pathloss is calculated as the transmission power of the SRS transmissions minus the received signal power of the SRS transmissions; [0110]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Wakabayashi into the system of Papasakellariou and Reis in order to enable measurements of an uplink pathloss between a UE and an infrastructure equipment with an uplink only for the UE, where it is not possible to rely on conventional downlink transmissions (Wakabayashi; [0115]).
Regarding claim 9, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 11, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 3.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 1.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the reasons cited in claim 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Dependent claims 4-8, 12-16, and 20 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.
Dependent claim 4, if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, would comprise a combination of elements which is not taught by the prior art of record. The same remarks apply to dependent claims 5-8, 12-16, and 20 mutatis mutandis.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cirik et al. (US 20230179333), “Power Control Parameter Determination In Uplink Channel Repetition.”
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/OUSSAMA ROUDANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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