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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1, 11, 13, 15, and 17-20 have been amended.
Response to Amendment
In response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 02/03/2026, the objections of claims 11, 13, 15, and 17 have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 02/03/2026 have been considered but they are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG et al. (Pub. No.: US 20190174466 A1), hereinafter ZHANG, in view of Semaan et al. (Pub. No.: US 20150358915 A1), hereinafter Semaan.
With respect to claim 1, ZHANG teaches A wireless communication method, comprising ([0309-0316], a wireless communication method):
receiving, by a wireless communication device, a first downlink signaling that is associated with a second downlink signaling ([0309-0316], UE receives a first downlink signaling / first DCI that is associated with a second downlink signaling / second DCI);
receiving, by the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling ([0309-0316], UE receives a RRC signaling configuring a relationship between the first DCI and the second DCI); and
transmitting, by the wireless communication device, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling according to the RRC signaling, respectively ([0309-0316], transmitting, by UE, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are scheduled by the first DCI and the second DCI according to the RRC signaling, respectively).
ZHANG does not explicitly teach simultaneously transmitting, by the wireless communication device, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission.
However, Semaan teaches simultaneously transmitting, by the wireless communication device, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission ([0060], UE simultaneously transmits a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Semaan, simultaneously transmitting, by the wireless communication device, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission, into the teachings of ZHANG, in order for the UE to control and share uplink power across multiple simultaneous links without exceeding the device’s transmit-power ceiling (Semaan, [0024-0027]).
With respect to claim 2, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 1. ZHANG teaches wherein each of the first and second uplink transmission includes a transmission of at least one of: a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) ([0309]).
With respect to claim 3, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 1. ZHANG teaches wherein each of the first and second uplink transmission includes at least one of: a transmission instance ([0309]).
With respect to claim 4, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 1. ZHANG teaches wherein respective contents of the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission are same or different (([0309]).
With respect to claim 6, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 1. ZHANG teaches wherein the first downlink signaling includes a first Downlink Control Information (DCI) indication, and the second downlink signaling includes a second DCI indication ([0309]).
With respect to claim 7, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 6. ZHANG teaches wherein the first DCI indication and the second DCI indication are configured to indicate a first beam state of the first uplink transmission and a second beam state of the second uplink transmission, respectively ([0309-0315]).
With respect to claim 8, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 6. ZHANG teaches separately or jointly receiving, by the wireless communication device, the first DCI indication and the second DCI indication ([0309-0315]).
With respect to claim 9, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 1. ZHANG teaches wherein the first and second beam states each corresponds to a respective User Equipment (UE) panel or a respective Transmission Reception Point (TRP) ([0309-0315]).
With respect to claim 19, ZHANG teaches A wireless communication device, comprising:
at least one processor configured to ([0193], processor):
receive, via a transceiver ([0205], transceiver), a first downlink signaling that is associated with a second downlink signaling ([0192, 0309-0316], UE receives a first downlink signaling / first DCI that is associated with a second downlink signaling / second DCI);
receive, via the transceiver ([0205], transceiver), a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling ([0192, 0309-0316], UE receives a RRC signaling configuring a relationship between the first DCI and the second DCI); and
transmit, via the transceiver, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling according to the RRC signaling, respectively ([0192, 0309-0316], transmitting, by UE, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are scheduled by the first DCI and the second DCI according to the RRC signaling, respectively).
ZHANG does not explicitly teach simultaneously transmit, via a transceiver, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission.
However, Semaan teaches simultaneously transmitting, via the transceiver, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission ([0060], UE simultaneously transmits a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Semaan, simultaneously transmitting, via the transceiver, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission, into the teachings of ZHANG, in order for the UE to control and share uplink power across multiple simultaneous links without exceeding the device’s transmit-power ceiling (Semaan, [0024-0027]).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG, in view of Semaan, and further in view of Tang et al. (Pub. No.: US 20190261341 A1), hereinafter Tang.
With respect to claim 5, the combination of ZHANG and Semaan teaches the method of claim 1. ZHANG teaches the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission ([0309]).
The combination of ZHANG and Semaan does not explicitly teach wherein respective time domain resource of the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission are fully or partially overlapped.
However, Tang teaches wherein respective time domain resource of the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission are fully or partially overlapped ([0082]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Tang, wherein respective time domain resource of the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission are fully or partially overlapped, into the teachings of ZHANG and Semaan, in order for the overall performance of uplink transmission may be improved (Tang, [0086]).
Claims 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. (Pub. No.: US 20210092744 A1), hereinafter Khoshnevisan, in view of ZHANG, and further in view of Semaan.
With respect to claim 18, Khoshnevisan teaches A wireless communication method, comprising:
transmitting, by a first wireless communication node to a wireless communication device, a first downlink signaling that is associated with a second downlink signaling (Fig. 6, [0194, 0201], first TRP transmits a first downlink signaling that is associated with a second downlink signaling),
wherein the second downlink signaling is transmitted by a second wireless communication node (Fig. 6, [0194, 0201], the second downlink signaling is transmitted by a second wireless communication node/ second TRP).
Khoshnevisan does not explicitly teach transmitting, by the first wireless communication node to the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling.
However, ZHANG teaches transmitting, by the first wireless communication node to the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling ([0280, 0309-0316], transmitting, by the first wireless communication node / RAN to the wireless communication device / UE, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling / first DCI and the second downlink signaling / second DCI); and
receiving, by the first wireless communication node, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling according to the RRC signaling, respectively ([0280, 0309-0316], receiving, by the first wireless communication node / RAN, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are transmitted by the wireless communication device / UE and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling / first DC and the second downlink signaling / second DCI according to the RRC signaling, respectively).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZHANG, transmitting, by the first wireless communication node to the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling, and receiving, by the first wireless communication node, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling according to the RRC signaling, respectively, into the teachings of Khoshnevisan, in order to allow the UE and the network to control signaling for uplink multiple input multiple output (Semaan, [0002]).
The combination of Khoshnevisan and ZHANG does not explicitly teach simultaneously transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling.
However, Semaan teaches simultaneously transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling ([0060], UE simultaneously transmits a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Semaan, simultaneously transmitting, by the wireless communication device, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission, into the teachings of Khoshnevisan and ZHANG, in order for the UE to control and share uplink power across multiple simultaneous links without exceeding the device’s transmit-power ceiling (Semaan, [0024-0027]).
With respect to claim 20, Khoshnevisan teaches A first wireless communication node, comprising:
at least one processor configured to ([0008], processor):
transmit, via a transceiver to a wireless communication device, a first downlink signaling that is associated with a second downlink signaling (Fig. 6, [0194, 0201], first TRP transmits a first downlink signaling that is associated with a second downlink signaling),
wherein the second downlink signaling is transmitted by a second wireless communication node (Fig. 6, [0194, 0201], the second downlink signaling is transmitted by a second wireless communication node/ second TRP).
Khoshnevisan does not explicitly teach transmit, via the transceiver to the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling.
However, ZHANG teaches transmit, via the transceiver to the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling ([0280, 0309-0316], transmitting, by the first wireless communication node / RAN to the wireless communication device / UE, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling / first DCI and the second downlink signaling / second DCI); and
receive, via the transceiver, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling according to the RRC signaling, respectively ([0280, 0309-0316], receiving, by the first wireless communication node / RAN, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are transmitted by the wireless communication device / UE and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling / first DC and the second downlink signaling / second DCI according to the RRC signaling, respectively).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of ZHANG, transmit, via the transceiver to the wireless communication device, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling configuring a relationship between the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling, and receive, via the transceiver, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission that are transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling according to the RRC signaling, respectively, into the teachings of Khoshnevisan, in order to allow the UE and the network to control signaling for uplink multiple input multiple output (Semaan, [0002]).
The combination of Khoshnevisan and ZHANG does not explicitly teach simultaneously transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling.
However, Semaan teaches simultaneously transmitted by the wireless communication device and are scheduled by the first downlink signaling and the second downlink signaling ([0060], UE simultaneously transmits a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Semaan, simultaneously transmitting, by the wireless communication device, a first uplink transmission and a second uplink transmission, into the teachings of Khoshnevisan and ZHANG, in order for the UE to control and share uplink power across multiple simultaneous links without exceeding the device’s transmit-power ceiling (Semaan, [0024-0027]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-17 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIET TANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7193. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, IAN MOORE can be reached on (571) 272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIET TANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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