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 .
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.
Claim(s) 25, 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen US 20200329487.
Regarding claim 25, 32, Chen teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors configure a next generation Node B (gNB) to:
encode, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for transmission of a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) with a plurality of PTRS ports, wherein the PTRS ports correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE that are capable of simultaneous uplink transmission; and
receive the PTRS from the UE according to the configuration information ([0013] The network device configures different PTRS ports for different reference signal resource sets corresponding to different panels, [0047] In such a manner, the terminal may simultaneously detect at least two DCIs and schedule data transmission on different panels respectively, so that simultaneous uplink transmissions on different panels are supported).
(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) 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu WO 2022126148.
Regarding claim 40, Liu teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors configure a user equipment (UE) to:
receive configuration information for transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS) with partial sounding and starting resource block (RB) hopping / (“frequency domain shift”, “frequency domain offset”; and
encode the SRS for transmission based on the configuration information (a user equipment (UE) receives control information for a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource. The control information indicates at least a first frequency resource in a carrier, a frequency-domain shift parameter, a PF value, and a frequency-domain offset value, abstract).
Regarding claim 44, by definition the SRS must be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic.
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(s) 26, 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen as applied to claims 25, 32 above, and further in view of Liu US 20230397197.
Regarding claims 26 and 33, configure the gNB to encode, for transmission to the UE, sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for codebook-based or non-codebook-based uplink transmission, wherein the SRS configuration information includes multiple SRS resource sets that correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE or a single SRS resource set that corresponds to two or more of the antenna panels.
Liu teaches configure the gNB to encode, for transmission to the UE, sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for codebook-based or non-codebook-based uplink transmission, wherein the SRS configuration information includes multiple SRS resource sets that correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE or a single SRS resource set that corresponds to two or more of the antenna panels ([0005-0008]).
Therefore 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 Chen by configure the gNB to encode, for transmission to the UE, sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for codebook-based or non-codebook-based uplink transmission, wherein the SRS configuration information includes multiple SRS resource sets that correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE or a single SRS resource set that corresponds to two or more of the antenna panels, as shown by Liu. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method for SRS configuration.
Claim(s) 27 and 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen as applied to claims 25 and 32 above, and further in view of Choi US 20230081552.
Regarding claim 27, 34, Chen is silent on configure the gNB to encode a downlink control information (DCI) for transmission to the UE to schedule a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), wherein the DCI indicates sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicators (SRIs) that correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE, and wherein the DCI further indicates one or multiple transmission precoding matrix indicators (TPMI) for the PUSCH.
Choi teaches configure the gNB to encode a downlink control information (DCI) for transmission to the UE to schedule a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), wherein the DCI indicates sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicators (SRIs) that correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE, and wherein the DCI further indicates one or multiple transmission precoding matrix indicators (TPMI) for the PUSCH ([0073, 0140]).
Therefore 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 Chen by configure the gNB to encode a downlink control information (DCI) for transmission to the UE to schedule a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), wherein the DCI indicates sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicators (SRIs) that correspond to respective antenna panels of the UE, and wherein the DCI further indicates one or multiple transmission precoding matrix indicators (TPMI) for the PUSCH, as shown by Choi. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method for configuring the PUSCH.
Claim(s) 28, 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen as applied to claims 25, 32 above, and further in view of Hao US 20230318759.
Regarding claims 28, 36 Chen is silent on each of the PTRS ports is associated with a subset of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ports.
Hao teaches each of the PTRS ports is associated with a subset of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ports ([0099]).
Therefore 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 Chen by each of the PTRS ports is associated with a subset of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ports, as shown by Hao. This modification would benefit the system by informing the UE on which ports to use for the PUSCH.
Claim(s) 29, 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen as applied to claims 25, 32 above, and further in view of Yoo US 20190052433.
Regarding claim 29, 37 Chen is silent on configure the gNB to encode a downlink control information (DCI) for transmission to the UE to schedule the uplink transmission, wherein the DCI indicates PTRS- demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associations for the respective PTRS ports.
Yoo teaches configure the gNB to encode a downlink control information (DCI) for transmission to the UE to schedule the uplink transmission, wherein the DCI indicates PTRS- demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associations for the respective PTRS ports ([0052]).
Therefore 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 Chen by configure the gNB to encode a downlink control information (DCI) for transmission to the UE to schedule the uplink transmission, wherein the DCI indicates PTRS- demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associations for the respective PTRS ports, as shown by Yoo. This modification would benefit the system by informing the UE on how to use the PTRS ports.
Claim(s) 30, 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination Chen and Yoo as applied to claims 29, 37 above, and further in view of Sun US 20230362927.
Regarding claim 30, the combination is silent on the DCI includes a PTRS- DMRS field with 3 or 4 bits to indicate the PTRS-DMRS associations, or separate PTRS-DMRS fields to indicate the respective PTRS-DMRS associations.
Sun teaches the DCI includes a PTRS- DMRS field with 3 or 4 bits to indicate the PTRS-DMRS associations, or separate PTRS-DMRS fields to indicate the respective PTRS-DMRS associations ([0224]).
Therefore 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 the combination by the DCI includes a PTRS- DMRS field with 3 or 4 bits to indicate the PTRS-DMRS associations, or separate PTRS-DMRS fields to indicate the respective PTRS-DMRS associations, as shown by Sun. This modification would benefit the system by using an optimal number of bits for PTRS-DMRS associations.
Claim(s) 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination as applied to claim 34 above, and further in view of Choi US 20230081552.
Regarding claim 35, the combination is silent on the DCI further indicates one or multiple transmission precoding matrix indicators (TPMI) for the PUSCH.
Choi teaches the DCI further indicates one or multiple transmission precoding matrix indicators (TPMI) for the PUSCH ([0073, 0140]).
Therefore 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 the combination by the DCI further indicates one or multiple transmission precoding matrix indicators (TPMI) for the PUSCH, as shown by Choi. This modification would benefit the system by informing the UE of the association between the TPMI and PUSCH.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 31, 39, and 41-43 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476