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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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) 63-67, 70-74, and 77-81 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Applicant’s submission of prior art, OPPO, “Discussion on UL Reference Signals for NR Positioning”, R1-1911848 (hereinafter OPPO).
Regarding claims 63, 70, and 77, OPPO discloses a method, comprising:
receiving, at a user equipment, configuration information of at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one time interval and at least one transmission resource associated with the at least one time interval [Section 3: “We have agreed to support all types of transmission configuration of SRS for positioning: periodic, semi-persistent and aperiodic transmission. For periodic SRS for positioning, the configuration is provided to the UE through RRC by the serving cell. The periodicity and slot offset are configured through RRC.“]; and
transmitting the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal to a network entity based on the configuration information [Section 3: “The transmission of SRS for positioning is needed only when the location service is launched.”],
wherein the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal is in a first transmission status or a second transmission status in accordance with the at least one time interval [Section 3: “Proposal 7: The gNB can use MAC-CE to mute and un-mute the transmission of periodic SRS transmission for positioning purpose.“; wherein the first transmission status corresponds to transmitting the SRS and the second transmission status corresponds to muting the transmitting], and
wherein the at least one time interval occurs periodically [Section 3: wherein it is inherent that the time interval occurs periodically for periodic SRS positioning].
Regarding claims 64, 71, and 78, OPPO discloses wherein the first transmission status corresponds to a first set of parameters associated with the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal [Section 3: Proposal 7; parameters used for transmitting the SRS], and wherein the second transmission status corresponds to a second set of parameters associated with the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal [Section 3: Proposal 7; parameters used for muting the SRS].
Regarding claims 65, 72, and 79, OPP discloses wherein the first transmission status corresponds to transmitting the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal, and wherein the second transmission status corresponds to muting the transmission of the at least one periodic sounding reference signal [Section 3: “Proposal 7: The gNB can use MAC-CE to mute and un-mute the transmission of periodic SRS transmission for positioning purpose.“; wherein the first transmission status corresponds to transmitting the SRS and the second transmission status corresponds to muting the transmitting].
Regarding claims 66, 73, and 80, OPPO discloses wherein a periodicity for transmitting the at least one periodic sounding reference signal in the first transmission status is different from a periodicity for transmitting the at least one periodic sounding reference signal in the second transmission status [Section 3: Proposal 6].
Regarding claims 67, 74, and 81, OPPO discloses wherein the first set of parameters comprises a first comb structure of the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal, and wherein the second set of parameters comprises a second comb structure different from the first comb structure of the at least one periodic positioning sounding reference signal [Section 2: Proposals 2 and 3].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 68, 69, 75, 76, and 82 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cha et al., US Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0156622, disclose a method for controlling transmission power of sounding reference signal (SRS) by terminal in a wireless communication system, and device therefor.
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/EAW/
January 20, 2026
/ERIKA A WASHINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644