DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
RCE filed 6/11/2026 is acknowledged. Amendment filed 5/11/2026 is entered.
Independent claims 24, 31, and 38 have been amended.
Claims 1-23 have been previously cancelled.
Claims 24-43 remain pending.
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.
Claims 24-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson et al. (US20250125927A1; supported by 63/238460), hereafter Nilsson, in view of Liu et al. (US20230199800A1), hereafter Liu.
Regarding claim 24,
Nilsson (Title: Sounding Reference Signal for Eight Transmitter UE) discloses an apparatus of a next generation Node B (gNB) (Fig. 6, gNB 160) comprising memory (Fig. 6, memory/medium 180) to store sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for an uplink transmission with up to eight layers by a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 5; paragraph 7, 39-41; gNB determines the number of layers/rank up to 8); and processing circuitry, coupled with the memory (Fig. 6, processing circuitry 170; paragraph 114-115) to configure the UE to retrieve SRS configuration information from the memory (Fig. 8, step 812; paragraph 162-168), wherein the SRS configuration information includes a maximum number of cyclic shifts for a comb value (Fig. 5; paragraphs 40-41), and wherein the maximum number of cyclic shifts is an integer multiple of eight (paragraph 91, 167-168; max cyclic shifts = 16, 24 for 8-port SRS at combs 2, 4 and 8) to encode a message for transmission to the UE that includes the SRS configuration information (Fig. 8, step 814).
Nilsson further discloses the SRS configuration information includes an indication of four comb offsets with two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets for a comb value of four or eight (paragraph 82, 94; Tables 2: port-to-comb-offset mapping; comb value of 4, 2 ports/offset mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3). Table 6: comb value of 4; 1 or 2 ports/offset mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3)).
Nilsson at least implies a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift (Table 2: cyclic shifts of (0,6) defined for 2 ports/offset across each of the four comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3)).
Analogous art to Liu (Title: Signaling SRS) more expressly discloses a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift (Figs. 4-5; paragraphs 143-145; port resources for UE are distributed such that 1 port uses cyclic shift 1 and the other uses cyclic shift 7 across each of 4 comb offsets).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Nilsson by providing a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift, as shown in Liu, thereby spreading out the ports over the SRS port resources in order to reduce potential interference or overlap between adjacent cyclic shifts.
Regarding claim 31,
Nilsson discloses computer-readable media (Fig. 6, medium 130) storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (Fig. 6, processing circuitry 120) configure a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 6, UE 110) to receive, from a next-generation NodeB (gNB)(Fig. 6, gNB 160), sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information (Fig. 8, step 812; paragraph 162-168) for an uplink transmission with up to eight layers by the UE (Fig. 5; paragraph 7, 39-41; number of layers/rank up to 8), wherein the SRS configuration information includes a maximum number of cyclic shifts for a comb value (Fig. 5; paragraphs 40-41), and wherein the maximum number of cyclic shifts is an integer multiple of eight (paragraph 91, 167-168; max cyclic shifts = 16, 24 for 8-port SRS at combs 2, 4 and 8); and encode an uplink message to the gNB based on the SRS configuration information (Fig. 8, step 814).
Nilsson further discloses the SRS configuration information includes an indication of four comb offsets with two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets for a comb value of four or eight (paragraph 82, 94; Tables 2: port-to-comb-offset mapping; comb value of 4, 2 ports/offset mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3). Table 6: comb value of 4; 1 or 2 ports/offset mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3)).
Nilsson at least implies a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift (Table 2: cyclic shifts of (0,6) defined for 2 ports/offset across each of the four comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3)).
Analogous art to Liu (Title: Signaling SRS) more expressly discloses a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift (Figs. 4-5; paragraphs 143-145; port resources for UE are distributed such that 1 port uses cyclic shift 1 and the other uses cyclic shift 7 across each of 4 comb offsets).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Nilsson by providing a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift, as shown in Liu, thereby spreading out the ports over the SRS port resources in order to reduce potential interference or overlap between adjacent cyclic shifts.
Regarding claim 38,
Nilsson discloses computer-readable media (Fig. 6, memory/medium 180) storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (Fig. 6, processing circuitry 170) configure a next-generation NodeB (gNB) (Fig. 6, gNB 160) to determine sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information that is to configure up to eight SRS resources in one SRS resource set (Fig. 5; paragraph 7, 39-41; gNB determines the number of layers/rank up to 8), wherein one SRS resource set is configured for a non-codebook based uplink transmission by a user equipment (UE) (paragraph 4) and encode a message for transmission to the UE that includes the SRS configuration information (Fig. 8, step 814).
Nilsson further discloses the SRS configuration information includes an indication of four comb offsets with two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets for a comb value of four or eight (paragraph 82, 94; Tables 2: port-to-comb-offset mapping; comb value of 4, 2 ports/offset mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3). Table 6: comb value of 4; 1 or 2 ports/offset mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3)).
Nilsson at least implies a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift (Table 2: cyclic shifts of (0,6) defined for 2 ports/offset across each of the four comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3)).
Analogous art to Liu (Title: Signaling SRS) more expressly discloses a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift (Figs. 4-5; paragraphs 143-145; port resources for UE are distributed such that 1 port uses cyclic shift 1 and the other uses cyclic shift 7 across each of 4 comb offsets).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Nilsson by providing a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift, as shown in Liu, thereby spreading out the ports over the SRS port resources in order to reduce potential interference or overlap between adjacent cyclic shifts.
Regarding claims 25 and 32,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the SRS configuration information includes a respective maximum number of cyclic shifts for each respective comb value in a plurality of comb values, and wherein each respective maximum number of cyclic shifts is an integer multiple of eight (paragraph 91, 167-168; max cyclic shifts = 16, 24 for 8-port SRS at combs 2, 4 and 8).
Regarding claims 26 and 33,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the comb value is two, four or eight, and the maximum number of cyclic shifts is eight, sixteen, or twenty-four (paragraph 91, 167-168; max cyclic shifts = 16, 24 of 8-port SRS at combs 2, 4, 8).
Regarding claims 27 and 34,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the SRS configuration information includes an indication of multiple comb offsets (paragraph 38, 85; Fig. 2).
Regarding claims 28 and 35,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the SRS configuration information includes an indication of four comb offsets, and wherein the four comb offsets are (0, 1, 2, 3), (0, 2, 4, 6), or (1, 3, 5, 7) (Tables 1-3).
Regarding claims 29 and 36,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses each comb offset mapped with two ports (paragraph 82-83).
Regarding claims 30 and 37,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the SRS configuration information is to support eight transmit and eight receive (8T8R) antenna ports on the UE (Title; paragraph 41).
Regarding claim 39,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses SRS configuration information includes an indication of a port group associated with a non-codebook based PUSCH transmission with eight or fewer layers (Tables 1-3; paragraph 82-83).
Regarding claim 40,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the message includes downlink control information (DCI) comprising an SRS resource set and an SRS resource index (SRI) field mapped to the port group (paragraphs 8-15; SRI field in DCI indicates number of layers and port/comb mapping).
Regarding claim 41,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses the SRI field is to indicate SRIs for transmission (paragraph 8-17, 101).
Claims 42 and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson and Liu in further view of Zhang et al. (US20230035992A1), hereafter Zhang.
Regarding claims 42 and 43,
The combination of Nilsson and Liu discloses SRS configuration information includes two resource sets, wherein up to four SRS resources are configured in each of the two resource sets (Tables 1-3; paragraph 82-83; 4 ports per offset = two resource sets for 8 ports) but does not expressly disclose multiple codewords and mapping between SRI field and codewords.
Zhang discloses analogous art (Title; paragraph 30: uplink codeword to layer mapping and phase tracking reference signaling; non-codebook based transmission) including multiple codewords and mapping between SRI field and codewords (paragraphs 31-34, 60, 147; codeword-to-layer mapping based on SRI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Nilsson and Liu by providing multiple codewords and mapping between SRI field and codewords, as shown by Zhang, thereby improving system performance compared to one codeword.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant's arguments filed 6/11/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In the Remarks on pg. 7 of the Amendment, Applicant contends Nilsson fails to teach or suggest the limitation (added via the present amendment) of, “a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift”.
The Examiner respectively disa grees. As now shown in the rejection, at least disclosure in Table 2 of Nilsson at least suggest the newly claimed limitations. Table 2 provides examples of port-to-comb-offset mapping with a comb value of 4, where 2 ports/offset are mapped to comb offsets (0, 1, 2, 3) having cyclic shifts (0,6). To the extent that Nilsson does not expressly show this new limitation, further prior art to Liu is also cited to show a first port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a first cyclic shift while a second port of the two ports mapped to each of the four comb offsets is assigned a second cyclic shift, thru disclosure in Figs. 4-5 and paragraphs 143-145, in which it is described how port resources for UE are distributed such that 1 port uses cyclic shift 1 and the other uses cyclic shift 7 across each of 4 comb offsets, for the purposes of spreading out the ports over the SRS port resources in order to reduce potential interference or overlap between adjacent cyclic shifts. Therefore, the rejections based on the combination of Nilsson and Liu are proper, necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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