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
This communication is responsive to Application # 18532121 filed 12/07/2023. Claims 4-6, 8-9, 12-13, 16, 20, 22, and 26 amended; Claims 3, 7, 10-11, 14-15, 17-19, 21, 23, 27-28, 30-31, 34, and 36-43 canceled; Claim 44 added; Claims 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 12-13, 16, 20, 22, 24-26, 29, 32-33, 35, and 44 are subject to examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 20 recites “a higher layer parameter each uplink control transmission is set to codebook”. It is recommended that claim 20 be amended to recite “a higher layer parameter for each uplink control transmission is set to codebook”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 12-13, 16, 20, 22, 24-26, 29, 32-33, 35, and 44 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 22, and 32 recite “wireless device operating in a multiple transmission reception point wireless configuration with a network device … configuration information received from a network device”. It is unclear whether these are same network device or different.
Claim(s) 2, 4-6, 8-9, 12-13, 16, 20, 24-26, 29, 33, 35, and 44 are also rejected because they are dependent upon rejected claims 1, 22, and 32 as set forth above and include limitations of the claims 1, 22, and 32 respectively.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 32-33, and 35 provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-4, 7-12, 15, and 21-22 of copending Application No. 18534369 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both use same method for uplink transmission.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Instant Application 18532121
Co-pending application 18534369
32. (Original) A method of wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, upon determining that a wireless device operating in a multiple transmission reception point wireless configuration with a network device satisfies a condition, codebook based one or more uplink control transmissions by the wireless device using one or more sounding reference signal resource indicators according to a rule;
wherein the sounding reference signal resource indicators are based on a configuration information received from a network device.
1. (Currently Amended) A method of wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, upon determining that a wireless device operating in a multiple transmission reception point wireless configuration with a network device satisfies a condition, one or more uplink control transmissions using a codebook-based or non-codebook-based precoding,
wherein the one or more uplink control transmissions are performed according to a configuration information received from a network device that indicates one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with the one or more uplink control transmission,
wherein at least one of the one or more uplink control transmissions comprises at least one of: a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, a PUSCH transmission occasion, or a PUSCH repetition, wherein the configuration information is received by a radio resource control layer signaling that comprises one or more parameters.
4. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink control transmissions are transmitted simultaneously using a same SRS resource set.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 22, 24-26, 29, 32-33, 35, and 44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Matsumura et al. (Matsumura hereafter) (US 20240073890 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Matsumura teaches, A method of wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, upon determining that a wireless device operating in a multiple transmission reception point (Matsumura; multiple TRP, Par. 0146) wireless configuration with a network device satisfies a condition (Matsumura; a single DCI-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission ... above may be used for SRIs/TPMIs/TPCs ... In DMRS transmission for the PUSCH, the UE may, with respect to different PUSCHs/CWs/TBs, assume that a plurality of indicated SRIs (in a case of CB-based PUSCH transmission)/a plurality of indicated SRI sets (in a case of NCB-based PUSCH transmission) are applied to each DMRS port (each layer) for the PUSCH, Par. 0150-0151 [Note that condition is plurality of SRIs]), one or more uplink control transmissions by the wireless device using one or more of precoding matrices (Matsumura; in a case of codebook-based transmission, the UE may determine the precoder for the PUSCH transmission on the basis of the SRI, transmitted rank indicator (TRI), and transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI), Par. 0069),
wherein the one or more precoding matrices are based on a configuration information received from a network device (Matsumura; The UE may determine the precoder used for PUSCH transmission on the basis of precoder type information (which may be represented by an RRC parameter “codebookSubset”) included in PUSCH configuration information (“PUSCH-Config” information element of RRC signaling) notified by the higher layer signaling, Par. 0051).
Regarding claim 22, Matsumura teaches, A method of wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, upon determining that a wireless device operating in a multiple transmission reception point wireless configuration with a network device satisfies a condition (Matsumura; a single DCI-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission ... above may be used for SRIs/TPMIs/TPCs ... In DMRS transmission for the PUSCH, the UE may, with respect to different PUSCHs/CWs/TBs, assume that a plurality of indicated SRIs (in a case of CB-based PUSCH transmission)/a plurality of indicated SRI sets (in a case of NCB-based PUSCH transmission) are applied to each DMRS port (each layer) for the PUSCH, Par. 0150-0151 [Note that condition is plurality of SRIs]), one or more uplink control transmissions by the wireless device using one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicators (Matsumura; in a case of codebook-based transmission, the UE may determine the precoder for the PUSCH transmission on the basis of the SRI, transmitted rank indicator (TRI), and transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI), Par. 0069) according to a rule (Matsumura; when the field included in the DCI indicates application of both a first SRI field and a second SRI field out of a plurality of (e.g., two) SRI fields (the first SRI field and the second SRI field), the UE may also determine that a plurality of repetitive PUSCH transmissions are performed in a plurality of SRIs (e.g., multiple TRPs), Par. 0133);
wherein the one or more SRS sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicators are based on a configuration information received from a network device (Matsumura; the UE may receive at least one of information related to one or a plurality of SRS resource sets SRS resource set information, for example, an RRC control element “SRS-ResourceSet”), Par. 0064).
Regarding claim 32, Matsumura teaches, A method of wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, upon determining that a wireless device operating in a multiple transmission reception point wireless configuration with a network device satisfies a condition (Matsumura; a single DCI-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission ... above may be used for SRIs/TPMIs/TPCs ... In DMRS transmission for the PUSCH, the UE may, with respect to different PUSCHs/CWs/TBs, assume that a plurality of indicated SRIs (in a case of CB-based PUSCH transmission)/a plurality of indicated SRI sets (in a case of NCB-based PUSCH transmission) are applied to each DMRS port (each layer) for the PUSCH, Par. 0150-0151 [Note that condition is plurality of SRIs]), codebook based one or more uplink control transmissions by the wireless device using one or more sounding reference signal resource indicators (Matsumura; in a case of codebook-based transmission, the UE may determine the precoder for the PUSCH transmission on the basis of the SRI, transmitted rank indicator (TRI), and transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI), Par. 0069) according to a rule (Matsumura; when the field included in the DCI indicates application of both a first SRI field and a second SRI field out of a plurality of (e.g., two) SRI fields (the first SRI field and the second SRI field), the UE may also determine that a plurality of repetitive PUSCH transmissions are performed in a plurality of SRIs (e.g., multiple TRPs), Par. 0133);
wherein the sounding reference signal resource indicators are based on a configuration information received from a network device (Matsumura; the UE may receive at least one of information related to one or a plurality of SRS resource sets SRS resource set information, for example, an RRC control element “SRS-ResourceSet”), Par. 0064).
Regarding claim 2 and claim 26, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1 and The method of claim 22 respectively, wherein the one or more uplink control transmissions comprise one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission occasions or one or more PUSCH transmission repetitions (Matsumura; Any one of the following options may be applied in time/frequency resource indication for PUSCH repetition, Par. 0152).
Regarding claim 4, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 2, wherein the condition includes that the wireless device is scheduled to transmit more than one PUSCH transmissions repetitions simultaneously such that, in a time domain, the more than one PUSCH transmissions repetitions at least partially overlap (Matsumura; Any one of the following options may be applied in time/frequency resource indication for PUSCH repetition ... scheduled for the same time resource, Par. 0152-0153).
Regarding claim 6, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more precoding matrices represent a precoder used over one or more transmission layers (Matsumura; The UE may determine a precoding matrix corresponding to a TPMI index obtained from DCI … precoders (which may be referred to as precoding matrixes, Par. 0056; the UE may determine the TPMI on the basis of one precoding information and number of layers field included in one piece of DCI. Subsequently, the UE may apply the precoding information and number of layers field/TPMI to PUSCH transmission with different TRPs, Par. 0119).
Regarding claim 8, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling information is received in a downlink control information (DCI) that indicates precoding information or a field indicative of a number of layers (Matsumura; a single DCI-based simultaneous PUSCH transmission ... above may be used for SRIs/TPMIs/TPCs, Par. 0150; one precoding information and number of layers field included in one piece of DCI may be indicated for the UE, Par. 0119).
Regarding claim 12, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein a number of antenna ports used by the one or more uplink control transmissions satisfy an antenna port number rule, wherein the antenna port number rule is at least one of:
all of the one or more uplink control transmissions use a same number of antenna ports (Matsumura; When repetitive PUSCH transmissions across multiple TRPs is performed, the same number of antenna ports may be configured/indicated for different TRPs (different PUSCHs). In other words, the same number of antenna ports may be commonly configured/indicated for a plurality of TRPs (a plurality of PUSCHs), Par. 0118);
the one or more uplink control transmissions use different number of antenna ports; the one or more uplink control transmissions use 1, 2 or 4 antennas ports; or
the number of antenna ports for each uplink control transmission is configured by a higher layer signaling.
Regarding claim 16, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein in case that each of the one or more uplink control transmissions uses a different transmission layer, then a different transmission layer is mapped to an antenna port (Matsumura; the same number of antenna ports may be commonly configured/indicated for a plurality of TRPs (a plurality of PUSCHs), Par. 0118; A new codeword-layer mapping table may be defined so as to indicate two indications of layers (for two panels) for each entry and of TPMIs. FIG. 6 ... is a table for 4 antenna ports, Par. 0168).
Regarding claim 24 and 33, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 22 and The method of claim 32 respectively, wherein the condition includes that the wireless device is scheduled to transmit more than one uplink control transmissions simultaneously such that, in a time domain, the more than one uplink transmissions at least partially overlap (Matsumura; Any one of the following options may be applied in time/frequency resource indication for PUSCH repetition ... scheduled for the same time resource, Par. 0152-0153).
Regarding claim 25 and 35, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 22 and The method of claim 32 respectively, wherein the condition is that each of the one or more uplink transmissions is associated with a corresponding SRS resource set (Matsumura; the UE may also determine that a plurality of repetitive PUSCH transmissions are performed in a plurality of SRIs (e.g., multiple TRPs), Par. 0133; The SRS resource set information may include ... SRS resource IDs (SRS-ResourceId) used in the resource set, Par. 0066).
Regarding claim 29, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 22, wherein an overhead of each SRS resource indicator field of each SRI depends on one or more of following factors:
a maximum number of transmission layers of the one or more uplink control transmissions; or
a number of configured SRS resources in an SRS resource set associated with the one or more uplink control transmissions (Matsumura; When codebook-based transmission is used for the PUSCH, two SRS resources may be configured for the UE by RRC, and one of the two SRS resources may be indicated for the UE by DCI (1-bit certain field). When non-codebook-based transmission is used for the PUSCH, four SRS resources may be configured for the UE by the RRC, and one of the four SRS resources may be indicated for the UE by DCI (2-bit certain field), Par. 0082).
Regarding claim 44, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein a precoding matrix is used to indicate a precoder to be applied over one or more transmission layers (Matsumura; The UE may determine a precoding matrix corresponding to a TPMI index obtained from DCI … precoders (which may be referred to as precoding matrixes, Par. 0056; the UE may determine the TPMI on the basis of one precoding information and number of layers field included in one piece of DCI. Subsequently, the UE may apply the precoding information and number of layers field/TPMI to PUSCH transmission with different TRPs, Par. 0119).
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 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura in view of LIM et al. (LIM hereafter) (US 20240073923 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 2, wherein the condition includes that each PUSCH transmission repetition is associated with SRS resource set (Matsumura; the UE may also determine that a plurality of repetitive PUSCH transmissions are performed in a plurality of SRIs (e.g., multiple TRPs), Par. 0133).
Matsumura failed to explicitly teach,
one SRS resource set.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LIM teaches,
one SRS resource set (LIM; If only one SRS resource set is selected and multiple SRS resources associated with different panels are indicated using all the multiple SRI fields, the terminal may perform simultaneous PUSCH transmission using panels associated with the indicated SRS resources, respectively, Par. 0633).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura to include the use of one SRS resource set as taught by LIM in order to transmit simultaneous PUSCH transmission (LIM; Par. 0633).
Claim 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura in view of HUANG et al. (HUANG hereafter) (US 20220287059 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 8, wherein an overhead of the precoding information and the field is dependent on at least one of:
(1) a maximum number of transmission layers,
(2) a maximum number of antenna ports (Matsumura; The precoding information and number of layers field included in scheduling DCI may be the number of bits enhanced to a specific number ... expressed by X×M ... the above-described X may be determined on the basis of at least one of the number of antenna ports, Par. 0120-0121), or
(3) a maximum coherence capability of antenna ports used by the wireless device for one or more PUSCH transmissions repetitions.
Matsumura fails to explicitly teach,
at least one of:
(1) a maximum number of transmission layers
However, in the same field of endeavor, HUANG teaches,
at least one of:
(1) a maximum number of transmission layers (HUANG; An overhead indicated by the precoding matrix and the number of transmission layers of the codebook-based PUSCH is: when the maximum number of transmission layers of two antenna ports is 1, the overhead indicated by the precoding matrix and the number of transmission layers of the codebook-based PUSCH is 1 bit, Par. 0432).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura to include the use of overhead information as taught by HUANG in order to determine DCI overhead (HUANG; Par. 0010).
Claim 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura in view of Rahman et al. (Rahman hereafter) (US 20230268971 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein a number of transmission layers of the one or more precoding matrices satisfy a transmission layer rule, wherein the transmission layer rule specifies at least one of:
a same number of transmission layers is used by each of the one or more precoding matrices of the one or more uplink control transmissions;
a maximum number of transmission layers used by the one or more uplink control transmission layers is 2 or 4; or
the maximum number of transmission layers used by the one or more uplink control transmissions layers is 1 or 2 (Matsumura; When a maximum value of the total number of layers is 4, a maximum value of the number of layers in one panel is 2, Par. 0096).
Although Matsumura shows precoding matrix for single layer has one column in Fig. 1, but failed explicitly teach that for 2 layer, the precoding matrix will have 2 columns. However, in the same field of endeavor, Rahman teaches precoding matrix for 2 layer in Table 4. Rahman also teaches that “Second SRI or second TPMI corresponds to the same number of layers as first SRI or first TPMI, respectively” in Table 11.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura to include the use of precoding matrix as taught by Rahman in order to determine associated number of layers (Rahman; Table 4).
Claim 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura in view of Echigo et al. (Echigo hereafter) (US 20240259880 A1).
Regarding claim 20, Matsumura teaches, The method of claim 1.
Matsumura fails to explicitly teach,
wherein a power ratio of a precoding matrix of the one or more uplink control transmissions satisfies at least one of:
a higher layer parameter each uplink control transmission is set to codebook; or
a linear value corresponding to a total power of the uplink control transmissions is scaled by a power ratio.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Echigo teaches,
wherein a power ratio of a precoding matrix of the one or more uplink control transmissions satisfies at least one of:
a higher layer parameter each uplink control transmission is set to codebook (Echigo; each power ratio associated with the codepoint may be defined in a specification in advance or may be specified/determined by higher layer signaling, physical layer signaling, or UE capability, or a combination of these, Par. 0119; Fig. 4B; The UE may be configured with a subset of the codebook specified by the TPMI, by codebookSubset, Par. 0048).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Matsumura to include the use of power ratio as taught by Echigo in order to determine power ratio between layers (Echigo; Par. 0111).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Prior art US 20240048327 A1 teaches in Fig. 4 that “the multi-panel simultaneous transmission scheme 400 may support a PUSCH transmission from a single UE to multiple TRPs 205 of a network entity 105 via different directional beams 405”.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416