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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 26, 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 46 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
New claim 46 recites “wherein: the SRS configuration information enables transmission of multiple SRS resource sets with different spatial relations over a same slot, and coordinated collision handling manages a time when SRS resources are transmitted over at least one of partially overlapped symbols and frequency resources.” In reviewing Applicants disclosure, the specification does not recite of coordinated collision handling that manages a time when SRS resources are transmitted over at least one of partially overlapped symbols and frequency resources. Therefore, new claim 46 recites a limitation that constitutes new matter to the original disclosure.
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.
The factual inquiries 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 25, 27, 32, 34, 36 – 38 and 46 – 48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al (US 2021/0235386) in view of Zhang et al (US 2024/0195564) (Zhang(2)).
Re claim 25, Zhang teaches of one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) (Paragraphs 0092 and 0462) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors (#304, Fig.9) of a user equipment (UE) (Terminal, Figures 5 and 9) configure the UE to: receive sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for a first SRS transmission on a first antenna panel of the UE and a second SRS transmission on a second antenna panel of the UE (Paragraphs 0009 – 0010, 0017 – 0018 and 0172 – 0173), wherein the first and second SRS transmissions at least partially overlap in time (Paragraphs 0202 – 0203 and Fig.6); and simultaneously (Paragraphs 0261 – 0265) transmit the first SRS transmission via the first antenna panel (panel-0, Fig.7B) and the second SRS transmission via the second antenna panel (panel-1, Fig.7B), based on the SRS configuration information (Paragraphs 0009 – 0010, 0017 – 0018 and 0172 – 0173). However, Zhang does not specifically mention of determining, based on the SRS configuration information indicating that simultaneous transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled, that the first and second SRS transmissions are to be transmitted without dropping either transmission; simultaneously transmit the first SRS transmission via the first antenna panel and the second SRS transmission via the second antenna panel during a time period in which the first and second SRS transmissions at least partially overlap, without prioritization-based dropping of either SRS transmission.
Zhang(2) teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon (Paragraphs 0013 – 0015), that when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) (#204, Fig.2), configure the UE to: receive sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for a first SRS transmission and a second SRS transmission (S804, Fig.8 and Paragraphs 0086 – 0087) of the UE on a multi-panel transmission (multi-panel transmission, Paragraphs 0082); determine, based on the SRS configuration information indicating that simultaneous transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled, that the first and second SRS transmissions are to be transmitted without dropping either transmission (S404, Fig.4 and Paragraphs 0063 – 0065 and 0086); and simultaneously transmit the first SRS transmission via the first antenna panel and the second SRS transmission via the second antenna panel during a time period in which the first and second SRS transmissions at least partially overlap, without prioritization-based dropping of either SRS transmission (when simultaneous transmission of the at least two SRSs is allowed, there is no prioritization-based dropping, Paragraphs 0089, 0109 and 0112).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have determined, based on the SRS configuration information indicating that simultaneous transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled, that the first and second SRS transmissions are to be transmitted without dropping either transmission so as to boost MIMO performance, reduce latency, and increase system capacity.
Re claim 34, Zhang teaches of one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions (Paragraphs 0092 and 0462), stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors (#401, Fig.10) of a next generation Node B (gNB) (Network Device, Fig. 5) configure the gNB to: encode, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information (#S102, Fig.5) for a first SRS transmission on a first antenna panel of the UE and a second SRS transmission on a second antenna panel of the UE (Paragraphs 0009 – 0010, 0017 – 0018 and 0172 – 0173), wherein the first and second SRS transmissions at least partially overlap in time (Paragraphs 0202 – 0203 and Fig.6); and receive at least one of the first or second SRS transmissions based on the SRS configuration information, the first SRS transmission via the first antenna panel being simultaneous with the second SRS transmission via the second antenna panel (Figures 5 – 6 and 7B and Paragraphs 0261 – 0265). However, Zhang does not specifically mention of the SRS configuration information indicating that simultaneous transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled and that that the first and second SRS transmissions are to be transmitted without dropping either transmission; and receive, during a time period in which the first and second SRS transmissions at least partially overlap, at least one of the first or second SRS transmissions based on the SRS configuration information without prioritization-based dropping of either SRS transmission,.
Zhang(2) teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon (Paragraphs 0013 – 0015), that when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) (#204, Fig.2), configure the UE to: receive sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for a first SRS transmission and a second SRS transmission (S804, Fig.8 and Paragraphs 0086 – 0087) of the UE on a multi-panel transmission (multi-panel transmission, Paragraphs 0082); determine, based on the SRS configuration information indicating that simultaneous transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled, that the first and second SRS transmissions are to be transmitted without dropping either transmission (S404, Fig.4 and Paragraphs 0063 – 0065 and 0086); and simultaneously transmit the first SRS transmission via the first antenna panel and the second SRS transmission via the second antenna panel during a time period in which the first and second SRS transmissions at least partially overlap, without prioritization-based dropping of either SRS transmission (when simultaneous transmission of the at least two SRSs is allowed, there is no prioritization-based dropping, Paragraphs 0089, 0109 and 0112).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have determined, based on the SRS configuration information indicating that simultaneous transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled, that the first and second SRS transmissions are to be transmitted without dropping either transmission so as to boost MIMO performance, reduces latency, and increases system capacity.
Re claims 27 and 36, Zhang teaches of wherein the first SRS transmission and the second SRS transmission are in a same slot (Slot 2 or Slot 3, Fig.6).
Re claims 32 and 38, Zhang teaches of wherein the SRS configuration information indicates a plurality of SRS resource sets, and wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to configure the UE to receive a downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) (MAC CE, Paragraph 0175) to indicate one or more of the SRS resource sets to use (SRS resource/resource sets, Paragraphs 0172 and 0183 – 0190).
Re claim 37, Zhang teaches of wherein the SRS configuration information includes: a first spatial relation for the first SRS transmission and a second spatial relation for the second SRS transmission (see claim 28); a first closed loop power control state for the first SRS transmission and a second closed loop power control state for the second SRS transmission; a first pathloss reference signal related to the first SRS transmission and a second pathloss reference signal related to the second SRS transmission; or a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) related to the first transmission and a second TCI related to the second transmission.
Re claim 46, Zhang and Zhang(2) teach all the limitations of claim 25, as well as Zhang teaches of wherein: the SRS configuration information enables transmission of multiple SRS resources with different spatial relations over a same slot (Figures 6 and 7B – 7C) and the SRS resources are transmitted over at least one of partially overlapped symbols and frequency resources (Fig.7C). Zhang(2) further teaches of wherein: the SRS configuration information enables transmission of multiple SRS resource sets with different spatial relations over a same slot (Paragraph 0084), and coordinated collision handling (#216, Fig.2) manages a time when SRS resources are simultaneously transmitted (Paragraph 0084).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have managed to perform simultaneous transmission of SRS resources of different sets for maintaining reliability, efficiency, and throughput.
Re claim 47, Zhang teaches of wherein: the SRS configuration information identifies a single SRS resource (Paragraphs 0172 and 0176), and the single SRS resource is configured with a first spatial relation for the first SRS transmission and a second spatial relation for the second SRS transmission, the first spatial relation corresponding to the first antenna panel and the second spatial relation corresponding to the second antenna panel (SRS resource on slot 4 for panels 0 and 1, Fig.6).
Re claim 48, Zhang teaches of wherein: the SRS configuration information identifies a single SRS resource configured with a first spatial relation for the first SRS transmission on the first antenna panel and a second spatial relation for the second SRS transmission on the second antenna panel (Paragraphs 0172 and 0176), and both the first SRS transmission and the second SRS transmission use the single SRS resource (SRS resource on slot 4 for panels 0 and 1, Fig.6).
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Zhang(2) in view of Yokomakura et al (US 2023/0188286).
Re claim 28, Zhang and Zhang(2) teach all the limitations of claim 25 as well as Zhang teaches of wherein the SRS configuration information includes a first spatial relation for the first SRS transmission and a second spatial relation for the second SRS transmission (spatial relationship information, Paragraphs 0261 – 0265), a first power control state for the first SRS transmission and a second power control state for the second SRS transmission (two sets of power control parameters, Paragraph 0032 and 0212), a first pathloss reference signal related to the first SRS transmission and a second pathloss reference signal related to the second SRS transmission (pathloss RS. Paragraphs 0016 and 0120). Zhang further teaches of a closed loop power control state (Paragraph 0006). However, Zhang and Zhang(2) do not specifically teach of wherein the SRS configuration information includes a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) related to the first transmission and a second TCI related to the second transmission.
Yokomakura teaches of SRS configuration information that includes a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) related to the transmission (Paragraphs 0175).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the power control state being a closed loop power control state for its accuracy, precision, and the ability to adapt to varying channel conditions. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the SRS configuration information also include a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) related to each transmission for improved uplink beam management.
Claims 26 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Zhang(2) in view of Dai et al (US 2024/0057026).
Re claims 26 and 35, Zhang and Zhang(2) teach all the limitations of claims 25 and 34, except of wherein the first SRS transmission and the second SRS transmission are synchronous.
Dai teaches of a first SRS transmission and second SRS transmission are synchronous (Fig.6 and Paragraph 0105).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first SRS transmission and the second SRS transmission be synchronous for great transmission efficiency.
Claim 45 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Zhang(2) in view of Chen et al (US 2023/0103379).
Re claim 45, Zhang and Zhang(2) teach all the limitations of claim 25 as well as Zhang teaches of wherein for a UE supporting simultaneous uplink transmission from multiple panels (Figures 6 – 7). However, Zhang and Zhang(2) do not specifically teach of the SRS configuration information including an extended number of SRS resources within one SRS resource set, where a number of SRS resources is extended based on a number of simultaneous active UE antenna panels.
Chen teaches of SRS configuration information including an extended number of SRS resources within one SRS resource set, where a number of SRS resources is extended based on a number of simultaneous active UE antenna panels (Table 1 – 2 and Paragraph 0092).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the SRS configuration information include an extended number of SRS resources within one SRS resource set that is based on a number of simultaneous active UE antenna panels for improved SRS transmissions.
Claim 40 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura et al (US 2024/0073890) in view of GO et al (US 2023/0155770).
Re claim 40, Matsumura teaches of one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) (Paragraphs 0329 – 0330) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) (#221, Fig.13) configure the UE to: receive configuration information (Abstract, Paragraphs 0093 and 0145, 0149 and 0290 – 0291) for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission (Paragraphs 0077 – 0078, 0091, 0093, 0178 and 0261) using multiple antenna panels (multi-panel transmission, Paragraphs 0087 – 0093); determine, based on the configuration information indicating of simultaneous PUCCH transmission from multiple antenna panels, wherein a first PUCCH and a second PUCCH are to be transmitted (Paragraphs 0149 and 0290 – 0291) without dropping either the first PUCCH or the second PUCCH (since both PUCCHs are transmitted there would be no dropping of either transmissions, Paragraphs 0149 and 0290 – 0291); transmit a first PUCCH on a first antenna panel based on the configuration information (Figures 2 – 3, Paragraphs 0091 – 0115); and transmit a second PUCCH on a second antenna panel based on the configuration information (Figures 2 – 3, Paragraphs 0091 – 0115), wherein the second PUCCH is at least partially overlapped in time with the first PUCCH (Figures 5A – 5B and Paragraph 0155), and wherein the first and second PUCCHs are transmitted simultaneously via the first and second antenna panels (Paragraphs 0145 and 0178) without prioritization-based dropping of either the first PUCCH or the second PUCCH (since both PUCCHs are transmitted there would be no dropping of either transmissions, Paragraphs 0145, 0149, 0178 and 0290 – 0291). Matsumura does not specifically teach of the configuration information indicating that simultaneous PUCCH transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled.
GO teaches of determining, based on the configuration information indicating that simultaneous PUCCH transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled, that a first PUCCH and a second PUCCH are to be transmitted without dropping either the first PUCCH or the second PUCCH (if simultaneous transmission is indicated, no dropping occurs, Paragraph 0316).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the configuration information indicating that simultaneous PUCCH transmission from multiple antenna panels is enabled so as to avoid UL transmission errors.
Claims 41 – 42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura and GO in view of Yuan et al (US 2023/0217378).
Re claim 41, Matsumura and GO teach all the limitations of claim 40, as well as Matsumura teaches of wherein the configuration information indicates a mapping of frequency resources (frequency domain resource assignment field, Paragraph 0107). However, Matsumura and GO do not specifically teach of wherein the configuration information indicates a mapping between frequency resources and the respective first and second antenna panels for PUCCH transmission.
Yuan teaches of configuration information that indicates a mapping between frequency resources and the respective first and second antenna panels for PUCCH transmission (Figures 3A – 3C and Paragraphs 0170 – 0175).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the configuration information indicate a mapping between frequency resources and the respective first and second antenna panels for PUCCH transmission so as to configure the uplink transmission to utilize SDM, FDM, and/or TDM techniques, alone or in any combination.
Re claim 42, Matsumura and GO teach all the limitations of claim 40, as well as Matsumura teaches of repetitive PUCCH transmissions to which TDM/FDM is applied (Paragraph 0215). Matsumura and GO do not specifically teach of wherein the configuration information indicates PUCCH resources for the PUCCH transmission, wherein the PUCCH resources include a first PUCCH resource and a second resource that are configured with TDM repetition, and wherein the first and second resources are transmitted further using FDM.
Yuan teaches of wherein the configuration information indicates PUCCH resources for the PUCCH transmission, wherein the PUCCH resources include a first PUCCH resource and a second resource that are configured with TDM, and wherein the first and second resources are transmitted further using FDM (Figures 3A – 3C and Paragraphs 0170 – 0175).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the configuration information indicate PUCCH resources using TDM/FDM for efficient PUCCH transmission.
Claim 43 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura and GO in view of Deghel et al (US 2025/0016752).
Re claim 43, Matsumura and GO teach all the limitations of claim 40 except of wherein the first and second PUCCHs have different formats (Paragraphs 0012 – 0019).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first and second PUCCHs have different formats so as to conform with 3GPP standards.
Claims 49 – 50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura and GO in view of Zhang.
Re claim 49, Matsumura and GO teach all the limitations of claim 40 except of wherein: the configuration information identifies a single PUCCH resource, and the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH are portions of the single PUCCH resource transmitted via the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel, respectively.
Zhang teaches of configuration information identifies a single PUCCH resource (PUCCH, Paragraphs 0030 and 0150) (Paragraphs 0172 and 0176), and the first PUCCH and the second PUCCH are portions of the single PUCCH resource transmitted via the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel, respectively (single resource on slot 4 for panels 0 and 1, Fig.6).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a single PUCCH resource be transmitted via the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel for enhancing link reliability.
Re claim 50, Matsumura, GO and Zhang teach all the limitations of claim 49, as well as Zhang teaches of wherein a mapping between frequency resource portions of the single PUCCH resource and the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel is predefined (Paragraph 0174 and Fig.6).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the mapping between frequency resource portions of the single PUCCH resource and the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel to be predefined to ensure stable performance.
Conclusion
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/ARISTOCRATIS FOTAKIS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633