DETAILED ACTION
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
2. 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.
Status of Claims
1. The following is a final office action in response to the applicant arguments/remarks received 05/19/2026.
2. Claims 43 and 54 have been amended.
3. Claims 55 – 65 have been withdrawn from consideration.
4. Claims 1 – 42 have been cancelled.
5. Claims 1 – 65 are currently pending and have been examined.
Objection to the Claim
1. The Examiner acknowledges the amendment made to claims 43 and 54 with regards to the word “if”, the objections pertaining to claims 43 and 54 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant argues with respect to the independent claims submitted on 05/19/2026, that neither Qualcomm or Lim discloses:
“…wherein either:
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second TRP is associated with the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI; or
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with a first SRS resource set or the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with a second SRS resource set, where the first SRS resource set is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI; or
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first TPMI field of the DCI or the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second TPMI field of the DCI.”
In reviewing the references of Qualcomm and Lim, the examiner agrees Qualcomm (Proposal 29 section 4.5) disclose at least the idea of two association field pertaining to PTRS-DMRS is being present in the DCI. At the same time section 4.1 of Qualcomm discloses 2 SRI fields that entails SRS resources. The examiner further agrees with the applicant’s remark that the PTRS-DMRS associations fields not being associated with the respective SRI fields. The applicant representative went on the state in the arguments at the bottom of page 19: “Lim, like Qualcomm, still does not explicitly tie the PTRS-DMRS associations fields to be associated with the respective SRI fields, and so Lim does not cure the deficiencies of Qualcomm.”
In view of the reference of Lim the examiner disagrees for at least the following reason: In paragraph 0507 of Lim (US 2022/0239410), it is stated:
“When the number of PTRS-DMRS association fields is two, the UE may use a first PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a first SRI and/or TPMI, and a second PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a second SRI and/or TPMI.”
It is clear from the above excerpt, there is an association of a first PTRS-DMRS association field regarding a first SRI and/or TPMI and a second PTRS-DMRS association field regarding a second SRI and/or TPMI. The word association is broad enough to be interpreted as one field (PTRS-DMRS association field) depends/rely/associated with/on another field (SRI and/or TPMI) to derive/determine the PTRS. At the same time ¶ 0508 was quoted in the non-final rejection to point out that the SRI field (houses the SRI) and TPMI field (houses the TPMI) are all present in the DCI. SRI as see in ¶ 0012 is known as the SRS resource indicator. In view of the above explanation, all three alternate limitations quoted above regarding the independent claims are accounted for by Lim. As a result, the rejection and references are maintained as presented in the last 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).
Claim interpretation
1. Limitations appearing in the specification but not recited in the claim should not be read into the claim. E-Pass Techs., Inc. v. 3Com Corp., 343 F.3d 1364, 1369, 67 USPQ2d 1947, 1950 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (claims must be interpreted "in view of the specification" without importing limitations from the specification into the claims unnecessarily) [MPEP 2106 Sec I, C]. “Though understanding the claim language may be aided by explanations contained in the written description, it is important not to import into a claim limitation that are not part of the claim. For example, a particular embodiment appearing in the written description may not be read into a claim when the claim language is broader than the embodiment.” Superguide Corp. v. DirecTV Enterprises, Inc., 358 F.3d 870, 875, 69 USPQ2d 1865, 1868 (Fed. Cir. 2004). [MPEP 2111.01 Sec II]. Thus, the Examiner interprets Applicant’s claims "in view of the specification" and does not “import into a claim limitation that are not part of the claim”.
2. When multiple limitations are connected with “OR”, one of the limitations does not have any patentable weight since both of the limitations are optional.
NOTE: The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
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:
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) 43 - 54 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qualcomm (R1-2101447, “Enhancements on Multi-TRP for PDCCH, PUCCH and PUSCH, January 25th – February 5th, 2021, provided in the last office action) in view of Lim et al. (US 2022/0239410 A1).
Regarding claim 43, Qualcomm discloses: A method performed by a wireless communication device comprising:
receiving Downlink Control Information, DCI, from a base station, wherein:
the DCI schedules Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, repetitions to one or two Transmission/Reception Points, TRPs, (page 16/18, third line from the bottom: "In this section, we discuss the following aspects related to single- DCI based PUSCH repetitions targeted towards different TRPs [..]")
wherein the DCI is configured by the base station with a first and a second Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, Resource Sets [see proposal 21 on page 27 /28] and the PUSCH is configured by the base station with a maximum rank larger than 2; (Page 23/28, Proposal 29, first subpoint: "…If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI…")
and the DCI comprises:
an antenna ports field that indicates two or more Demodulation Reference Signal, DMRS, ports; [see first paragraph on page 23/28]
a first and a second SRS resource indicator, SRI, fields and/or a first and a second Transmit Precoding Matrix Indicator, TPMI, fields; and [see section 4.3 on page 21/28, which pertains to two TPMI fields present in the DCI. See option 1 on page 17/28 for two SRI fields in the DCI]
two PTRS-DMRS association fields, a first and a second PTRS-DMRS fields,
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each having 2 bits; (Section 4.5, page 23/28, proposal 29: first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions.")
determining, when the DCI schedules PUSCH repetitions to two TRPS, at least one of the DMRS port associated with at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to a first TRP based on the first PTRS-DMRS association field comprised in the DCI, where the first TRP is associated to the first SRS resource set; [see proposal 29 on page 23 / 28 in view of the last three lines on page 16/28. There are two association fields present in the DCI each represented by two bits. Each Association field filed pertains to a separate TRP. The association field associates DMRS with PTRS in view of PUSCH repetition. The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set]
determining, when the DCI schedules PUSCH repetitions to two TRPs at least one DMRS port associated with at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to a second TRP based on the second PTRS-DMRS association field comprised in the DCI where the second TRP is associated to the second SRS resource set; [see proposal 29 on page 23 / 28 in view of the last three lines on page 16/28. There are two association fields present in the DCI each represented by two bits. Each Association field filed pertains to a separate TRP. The association field associates DMRS with PTRS in view of PUSCH repetition. The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set]
determining, when the DCI schedules PUSCH repetitions to the first or the second TRP, at least one of the DMRS ports associated with at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the first or the second TRP based on the first PTRS-DMRS association field when the PUSCH repetitions are associated to the first SRI field or the second PTRS- DMRS association field if the PUSCH repetitions are associated to the second SRI field; [see proposal 29 on page 23 / 28 in view of the last three lines on page 16/28. There are two association fields present in the DCI each represented by two bits. Each Association field filed pertains to a separate TRP. The association field associates DMRS with PTRS in view of PUSCH repetition. The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set. In addition option 1 on page 17/28 states: “…Two SRI fields are included in the UL DCI and they indicate SRS resource(s) from the first SRS resource set and second SRS resource set…” ]
transmitting a first PUSCH repetition to the first TRP with the at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the first TRP; and (Page 16/28 (last three lines): "In this section, we discuss the following aspects related to single- DCI based PUSCH repetitions targeted towards different TRPs …" in view of with Section 4.5 (page 23/28), Proposal 29: first subpoint) transmitting a second PUSCH repetition to the second TRP with the at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the second TRP; (Page 16/28 (last three lines): "In this section, we discuss the following aspects related to single- DCI based PUSCH repetitions targeted towards different TRPs …" in view of with Section 4.5 (page 23/28), Proposal 29: first subpoint)
wherein either: [only one of the three options needs to be accounted for, Qualcomm possess the first option]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second TRP is associated with the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI; or [see proposal 29 on page 23 / 28 in view of the last three lines on page 16/28. There are two association fields present in the DCI each represented by two bits. Each Association field filed pertains to a separate TRP. The association field associates DMRS with PTRS in view of PUSCH repetition. The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set. In addition option 1 on page 17/28 states: “…Two SRI fields are included in the UL DCI and they indicate SRS resource(s) from the first SRS resource set and second SRS resource set…”]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with a first SRS resource set or the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with a second SRS resource set, where the first SRS resource set is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI; [see proposal 29 on page 23 / 28 in view of the last three lines on page 16/28. There are two association fields present in the DCI each represented by two bits. Each Association field filed pertains to a separate TRP. The association field associates DMRS with PTRS in view of PUSCH repetition. The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set. In addition option 1 on page 17/28 states: “…Two SRI fields are included in the UL DCI and they indicate SRS resource(s) from the first SRS resource set and second SRS resource set…”]
Qualcomm discloses every aspect of claim 43, however, to address the issue that is not clear form the reference of Qualcomm that is, the PTRS-DMRS associations fields to be associated with the respective SRI fields and/or SRS resource set and TPMI fields of the DCI, the reference of Lim is relied on to account for the following limitations:
wherein either:
“the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second TRP is associated with the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI” [ ¶ 0507 (last sentence) and ¶ 0508 in view of ¶ 0517: “When the number of PTRS-DMRS association fields is two, the UE may use a first PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a first SRI and/or TPMI, and a second PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a second SRI and/or TPMI.” It is clear from this excerpt, there is an association of a first PTRS-DMRS association field with regarding a first SRI and a second PTRS-DMRS association field regarding a second SRI and/or TPMI. The word association is broad enough to be interpreted as one field (PTRS-DMRS association field) depends/rely/associated with/on another field (SRI and/or TPMI) to derive/determine the PTRS. At the same time ¶ 0508 point out that the SRI field (houses the SRI) and TPMI field (houses the TPMI) are all present in the DCI.].
Lim also discloses: the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with a first SRS resource set or the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with a second SRS resource set, where the first SRS resource set is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI; [see ¶ 0507 and ¶ 0508: “When the number of PTRS-DMRS association fields is two, the UE may use a first PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a first SRI and/or TPMI, and a second PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a second SRI and/or TPMI.” It is clear from this excerpt, there is an association of a first PTRS-DMRS association field with regarding a first SRI and a second PTRS-DMRS association field regarding a second SRI and/or TPMI. The word association is broad enough to be interpreted as one field (PTRS-DMRS association field) depends/rely/associated with/on another field (SRI and/or TPMI) to derive/determine the PTRS. At the same time ¶ 0508 point out that the SRI field (houses the SRI) and TPMI field (houses the TPMI) are all present in the DCI. SRI as see in ¶ 0012 is known as the SRS resource indicator.]
Lim also discloses: the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first TPMI field of the DCI or the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second TPMI field of the DCI. [see ¶ 0507 and ¶ 0508: “When the number of PTRS-DMRS association fields is two, the UE may use a first PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a first SRI and/or TPMI, and a second PTRS-DMRS association field to determine a PTRS regarding a TRP indicated by a second SRI and/or TPMI.” It is clear from the this excerpt, there is an association of a first PTRS-DMRS association field with regarding a first SRI and a second PTRS-DMRS association field regarding a second SRI and/or TPMI. The word association is broad enough to be interpreted as one field (PTRS-DMRS association field) depends/rely/associated with/on another field (SRI and/or TPMI) to derive/determine the PTRS. At the same time ¶ 0508 point out that the SRI field (houses the SRI) and TPMI field (houses the TPMI) are all present in the DCI.]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Qualcomm in view of Lim. The motivation for making the above modification would have been to implement DCI format 0_1 or 0_2 and determines the association between the PTRS port and DMRS port regarding each TRP. [¶ 0513 of Lim].
Note to applicant:
Nokia (R1-2101006, “Enhancements for Multi-TRP URLLC schemes”, January 25th – February 5th, 2021, submitted in the last office action) discloses in the third paragraph on page 15/22, when the rank is above 2 that is 3 or 4, the DCI field is increased from 2 bits to 4 bits, that is, two bits per association field for each TRP of the DCI. The examiner believes this is the salient feature of the applicant’s claimed invention of having two association field in a single DCI that is above rank 2 and each association field pertains to 2 bits. A single association field that associates SRI, PTRS-DMRS, TPMI per TRP is already known in the art of rank less than 2 which involves 2 bits only in the DCI. Having 2 association field in the DCI of 2 bits each when the rank is above 2 would have been obvious with regards to the reference of Qualcomm in view of Nokia.
Claim 54 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 43. Such difference as the transmitter, processor in view of the wireless communication device can be seen in the reference of Lim, see figure 26.
Claim 44, Qualcomm in view of Lim further discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
the DCI comprises the two PTRS-DMRS association fields, the first and the second PTRS-DMRS fields, each having 2 bits; [Lim: ¶ 0292: an association field is of 2 bits and in ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs, see also ¶ 0508. Qualcomm further assign 2 bits per association field see: Section 4.5, page 23, proposal 29: first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions."]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first TRP; and [Lim: ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs in view of Qualcomm: Section 4.5 (page23/28),proposal 29: , first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions”]
the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second TRP; [Lim: ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs in view of Qualcomm: Section 4.5 (page23/28),proposal 29: , first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions”]
wherein the first TRP is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second TRP is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI. [¶ 507 – 508 of Lim in view of Qualcomm: The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set. In addition option 1 on page 17/28 states: “…Two SRI fields are included in the UL DCI and they indicate SRS resource(s) from the first SRS resource set and second SRS resource set…”].
Claim 45, Qualcomm in view of Lim further discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
the DCI comprises the two PTRS-DMRS association fields, the first and the second PTRS-DMRS fields, each having 2 bits; [Lim: ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs in view of Qualcomm: Section 4.5 (page23/28),proposal 29: , first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions”]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first SRS resource set associated to the first TRP; and [Lim: ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs in view of Qualcomm: Section 4.5 (page23/28),proposal 29: , first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions”]
the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second SRS resource set associated to the second TRP; [Lim: ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs in view of Qualcomm: Section 4.5 (page23/28),proposal 29: , first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions”]
wherein the first SRS resource set is associated with the first SRI field in the DCI and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second SRI field in the DCI. [¶ 507 – 508 of Lim in view of Qualcomm: The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set. In addition option 1 on page 17/28 states: “…Two SRI fields are included in the UL DCI and they indicate SRS resource(s) from the first SRS resource set and second SRS resource set…”].
Claim 46, Qualcomm in view of Lim further discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
the DCI comprises the two PTRS-DMRS association fields, the first and the second PTRS-DMRS fields, each having 2 bits; [Lim: ¶ 0292: an association field is of 2 bits and in ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs, see also ¶ 0508. Qualcomm further assign 2 bits per association field see: Section 4.5, page 23, proposal 29: first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions."]
the DCI is for non-codebook based PUSCH transmission and further comprises a first SRI field and a second SRI field; [¶ 0515, two SRI fields present in view of ¶ 0520, see in view of Qualcomm: Section 4.1, first paragraph along with figure 12 and option 1]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first SRI field; and the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second SRI field. [¶ 507 – 508 of Lim, “…two PTRS-DMRS association fields are configured…”, in view of Qualcomm: The first paragraph under section 4.1 on pave 17/28, states: “…Each of the SRS resource sets contains one or more SRS resources from which the DCI can choose from. Effectively, the first SRS resource set is associated with the first TRP and the second SRS resource set is associated with the second TRP”, see also figure 12 whereby a single DCI has 4 repetitions in view of two TRP and each repetition is associated with an SRS resource set. In addition option 1 on page 17/28 states: “…Two SRI fields are included in the UL DCI and they indicate SRS resource(s) from the first SRS resource set and second SRS resource set…”].
Claim 47, Qualcomm in view of Lim further discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
the DCI comprises the two PTRS-DMRS association fields, the first and the second PTRS-DMRS fields, each having 2 bits; [Lim: ¶ 0292: an association field is of 2 bits and in ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs, see also ¶ 0508. Qualcomm further assign 2 bits per association field see: Section 4.5, page 23, proposal 29: first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions."]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first TPMI field of the DCI associated to the first TRP; and [Lim:¶ 0508: “On the other hand, when the SRI and TPMI fields in the DCI indicate two SRIs and two TPMIs, the UE may transmit the PUSCH by the multiple TRPs and determine that two PTRS-DMRS association fields are configured.”]
the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second TPMI field of the DCI associated to the second TRP. [Lim: ¶ 0508: “On the other hand, when the SRI and TPMI fields in the DCI indicate two SRIs and two TPMIs, the UE may transmit the PUSCH by the multiple TRPs and determine that two PTRS-DMRS association fields are configured.”]
Claim 48, Qualcomm in view of Lim discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
the DCI comprises the two PTRS-DMRS association fields, the first and the second PTRS-DMRS fields, each having 2 bits; [Lim: ¶ 0292: an association field is of 2 bits and in ¶ 0507, the PTRS-DMRS association fields in the DCI format 0_1 and 0_2 is two corresponding to multiple TRPs, see also ¶ 0508. Qualcomm further assign 2 bits per association field see: Section 4.5, page 23, proposal 29: first subpoint, "If the configured value of maxRank>2, a second PTRS-DMRS association field is included in the DCI, which consists of 2 bits and indicates the PTRS-DMRS association for the second set of repetitions."]
the DCI is for codebook based PUSCH transmission and further comprises a first TPMI field and a second TPMI field; [Lim: ¶ 0419 and ¶ 505. See also qualcomm page 21/28]
the first PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the first TPMI field; and
the second PTRS-DMRS association field is associated with the second TPMI field. [Lim: ¶ 0508 “On the other hand, when the SRI and TPMI fields in the DCI indicate two SRIs and two TPMIs, the UE may transmit the PUSCH by the multiple TRPs and determine that two PTRS-DMRS association fields are configured.” In view of Lim: ¶ 0419 and ¶ 505]
Claim 49, Lim discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
determining the at least one DMRS port associated with the at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the first TRP comprises determining a first DMRS port associated with a first PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the first TRP based on the first PTRS-DMRS association field comprised in the DCI; [¶ 0511]
determining the at least one DMRS port associated with the at least one PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the second TRP comprises determining a second DMRS port associated with a second PTRS port for PUSCH transmissions to the second TRP based the second PTRS- DMRS association field comprised in the DCI; [¶ 0511]
transmitting the first PUSCH repetition to the first TRP comprises transmitting the first PUSCH repetition to the first TRP with the first PTRS port associated to the first DMRS port;
and transmitting the second PUSCH repetition to the second TRP comprises transmitting the second PUSCH repetition to the second TRP with the second PTRS port associated to the second DMRS port. [¶ 0515].
Claim 50, Lim further discloses: The method of claim 43, wherein:
the first PTRS-DMRS association field indicates one of up to four DMRS ports indicated in the antenna ports field to be associated with a first PTRS port for the PUSCH transmissions to the first TRP; and [¶0533]
the second PTRS-DMRS association field indicates one of up to four DMRS ports indicated in the antenna ports field to be associated with a first PTRS port for the PUSCH transmissions to the second TRP. [¶0533]
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claims 51 – 53 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 as well as overcoming all rejection(s)/objection(s) set forth in this office action.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHARISHI V KHIRODHAR whose telephone number is (571)270-7909. The examiner can normally be reached 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nawaz M Asad can be reached at 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MAHARISHI V. KHIRODHAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MAHARISHI V KHIRODHAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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