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 .
Status of the Claims
Based on the current set of claims (Claims, 23 June 2026), Claims 1-4, 8-9, 11, and 21-28 are pending.
Based on the current set of claims (Claims, 23 June 2026), Claims 1 and 8 are amended and said amendments are narrowing and supported by originally-filed Specification.
Based on the current set of claims (Claims, 23 June 2026), Claims 21-28 are new and said amendments are supported by originally-filed Specification.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 8 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abdelghaffar et al. (US 20220231894 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Abdelghaffar”) in view of Lee et al. (US 20250119257 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Lee”).
Regarding Claim 1, Abdelghaffar discloses an apparatus for use in a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new-radio (5G NR) network (¶29 & Fig. 1, Abdelghaffar discloses a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a 5G New Radio (NR) wireless network), wherein the apparatus comprises:
a memory (¶45 & Fig. 2, Abdelghaffar discloses the UE comprising memory 282) to store configuration information (¶50 & Fig. 2, Abdelghaffar discloses that the memory of the UE stores data for the UE 120) received from a base station (¶80 & Fig. 6 (602), Abdelghaffar discloses receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration from a base station (BS)),
wherein the configuration information includes:
a resource configuration that provides sounding reference signal (SRS) Positioning Resource Sets (¶56, Abdelghaffar discloses that the RRC configuration provides one or more SRS resource sets used by the UE for positioning) that are linked for bandwidth aggregation across two or more component carriers (¶88-89 & Fig. 6, Abdelghaffar discloses that the one or more SRS resource are simultaneously transmitted across two or more component carriers. Fig. 6, Abdelghaffar further discloses that a first component carrier (CC1) and a second component carrier (CC2) are linked for inter-band carrier aggregation and each CC composes an SRS resource); and
one or more processors (¶45 & Fig. 2, Abdelghaffar discloses the UE comprising processor 280) configured to facilitate transmission, to the base station, of SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the two or more component carriers using bandwidth aggregation (¶88-89 & Fig. 6 (606), Abdelghaffar discloses simultaneously transmitting, to the BS, SRSs across CC1 and CC2 where CC1 and CC2 are linked for carrier aggregation).
However, Abdelghaffar does not disclose that the transmission of the SRS in an RRC_CONNECTED state.
Lee, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches the transmission of the SRSs in an RRC_CONNECTED state (¶20, Lee discloses transmission of the SRS in RRC_CONNECTED state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar by requiring that the transmission of the SRSs in an RRC_CONNECTED state as taught by Lee because positioning using sounding reference signals (SRSs) is improved by dropping the SRSs when the SRSs collide with another physical signal or other physical channel in the time domain (Lee, Abstract).
Regarding Claim 2, Abdelghaffar in view of Lee discloses the apparatus of claim 1.
Lee, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, further teaches wherein the configuration information is received when the UE is in an RRC_INACTIVE mode (¶257-260 & Table 14, Lee discloses that the SRS-PosRRC-InactiveConfig-r17 of the RRC Release message is received while the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar in view of Lee by requiring that the configuration information is received when the UE is in an RRC_INACTIVE mode as taught by Lee because positioning using sounding reference signals (SRSs) is improved by dropping the SRSs when the SRSs collide with another physical signal or other physical channel in the time domain (Lee, Abstract).
Regarding Claim 3, Abdelghaffar in view of Lee discloses the apparatus of claim 1.
Abdelghaffar further discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to decode a downlink control information (DCI) format (¶82 & Fig. 6 (604) & ¶98, Abdelghaffar discloses receiving a downlink control information (DCI) having a particular format where the particular format includes DCI Format 0_1, DCI Format 1_1, and DCI Format 1_2) triggering transmission of SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across two or more component carriers using bandwidth aggregation (¶88-89 & Fig. 6 (606), Abdelghaffar discloses that the DCI triggers, or causes the UE, to simultaneously transmit a first SRS and a second SRS over CC1 and CC2 respectively where CC1 and CC2 are aggregated using inter-band carrier aggregation).
Regarding Claim 8, Abdelghaffar discloses one or more non-transitory computer readable media (NTCRM) comprising instructions that, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors, are to cause a base station (¶50, Abdelghaffar discloses a base station (BS) comprising a medium where the medium stores a set of instructions that, upon execution of one or more processors, cause the BS to perform a method), configured for operation in a fifth-generation new-radio (5G NR) network ) (¶29 & Fig. 1, Abdelghaffar discloses the BS configured to operate in a 5G New Radio (NR) wireless network), to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information (¶80 & Fig. 6 (602), Abdelghaffar discloses transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) from the BS, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration) that includes:
a resource configuration that provides sounding reference signal (SRS) Positioning Resource Sets (¶56, Abdelghaffar discloses that the RRC configuration provides one or more SRS resource sets used by the UE for positioning) that are linked for bandwidth aggregation across two or more component carriers (¶88-89 & Fig. 6, Abdelghaffar discloses that the one or more SRS resource are simultaneously transmitted across two or more component carriers. Fig. 6, Abdelghaffar further discloses that a first component carrier (CC1) and a second component carrier (CC2) are linked for inter-band carrier aggregation and each CC composes an SRS resource); and
receive, from the UE, SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets aggregated across two or more component carriers (¶88-89 & Fig. 6 (606), Abdelghaffar discloses simultaneously receiving, by the BS from the UE, SRSs across CC1 and CC2 where CC1 and CC2 are linked for carrier aggregation).
However, Abdelghaffar does not disclose reception of SRSs while the UE is in an RRC_CONNECTED state.
Lee, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches the reception of SRSs while the UE is in an RRC_CONNECTED state (¶20, Lee discloses reception of the SRS while the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar by requiring that the reception of SRSs while the UE is in an RRC_CONNECTED state as taught by Lee because positioning using sounding reference signals (SRSs) is improved by dropping the SRSs when the SRSs collide with another physical signal or other physical channel in the time domain (Lee, Abstract).
Regarding Claim 9, Abdelghaffar in view of Lee discloses the one or more NTCRM of claim 8.
Lee, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, further teaches wherein the configuration information is transmitted to the UE based on an identification that the UE is in an RRC_INACTIVE mode (¶257-260 & Table 14, Lee discloses that the SRS-PosRRC-InactiveConfig-r17 of the RRC Release message is received while the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar in view of Lee by requiring that the configuration information is transmitted to the UE based on an identification that the UE is in an RRC_INACTIVE mode as taught by Lee because positioning using sounding reference signals (SRSs) is improved by dropping the SRSs when the SRSs collide with another physical signal or other physical channel in the time domain (Lee, Abstract).
Claims 4 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abdelghaffar in view of Lee in further view of Park et al. (US 20230216635 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Park”).
Regarding Claim 4, Abdelghaffar in view of Lee discloses the apparatus of claim 1.
However, Abdelghaffar in view of Lee does not disclose wherein the configuration information further includes an indication of an uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP) configured in a third component carrier of the plurality of component carriers.
Park, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the configuration information further includes an indication of an uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP) configured in a third component carrier of the plurality of component carriers (¶156-159 & Fig. 10 (S201), Park disclose receiving configuration information where the configuration information includes an SRS resource for each component carrier for at least three component carriers. ¶63, Park discloses that a bandwidth part may be configured for each carrier).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar in view of Lee by requiring that the configuration information further includes an indication of an uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP) configured in a third component carrier of the plurality of component carriers as taught by Park because delicate downlink (DL) channel estimation according to uplink/downlink (UL/DL) channel reciprocity in a base station (BS) is improved by performing SRS transmission for each UL band according to SRS configuration information (Park, ¶4).
Regarding Claim 11, Claim 11 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 4.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (US 20250175930 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Peng”) in view of Lee.
Regarding Claim 21, Peng discloses a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new-radio (5G NR) network (¶3 & ¶47-48, Peng discloses a user equipment (UE) 204 being configured to operate in a 5G New Radio (NR) mobile communication system), the UE comprising:
processing circuitry (¶37-38 & Fig. 2, Peng discloses the UE comprising a processor); and
memory (¶37-38 & Fig. 2, Peng discloses the UE comprising memory), wherein the processing circuitry configures the UE to:
receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message (¶121-122 & Fig. 15 (1505 & 1510) & ¶54, Peng discloses receiving, by the UE from the network, configuration information via radio resource control (RRC) configuration message where the RRC configuration message reconfigures the SRS configuration) that provides sounding reference signal (SRS) Positioning Resource Sets (¶121-122 & Fig. 15 (1505 & ¶1515) & ¶54 & ¶125, Peng discloses that the configuration information provides sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets) that are linked for bandwidth aggregation across two or more component carriers (¶121-122 & Fig. 15 (1505 & ¶1515) & ¶54 & ¶125, Peng discloses that the SRS resource sets are linked for bandwidth aggregation over a plurality of component carriers); and
transmit SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the two or more component carriers using bandwidth aggregation (¶121-122 & Fig. 15 (1505 & ¶1515) & ¶54 & ¶125, Peng discloses transmitting, by the UE to the network, a plurality of sounding reference signals (SRSs) of the linked SRS Resource Sets using carrier aggregation).
However, Peng does not disclose transmission of SRS in an RRC_CONNECTED state.
Lee, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches transmission of SRS in an RRC_CONNECTED state (¶20, Lee discloses transmission of the SRS in RRC_CONNECTED state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar by requiring that the transmission of the SRSs in an RRC_CONNECTED state as taught by Lee because positioning using sounding reference signals (SRSs) is improved by dropping the SRSs when the SRSs collide with another physical signal or other physical channel in the time domain (Lee, Abstract).
Regarding Claim 24, Peng in view of Lee discloses the UE of claim 23,
Lee, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the UE is configured with the frequency information in RRC_INACTIVE mode (¶257-260 & Table 14, Lee discloses that the SRS-PosRRC-InactiveConfig-r17 of the RRC Release message is received while the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Abdelghaffar by requiring that the transmission of the SRSs in an RRC_CONNECTED state as taught by Lee because positioning using sounding reference signals (SRSs) is improved by dropping the SRSs when the SRSs collide with another physical signal or other physical channel in the time domain (Lee, Abstract).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng in view of Lee in further view of Park et al. (US 20230216635 A1; hereinafter referred to as “Park”).
Regarding Claim 22, Peng in view of Lee discloses the UE of claim 21.
However, Peng in view of Lee does not disclose wherein when the RRC reconfiguration message provides SRS Positioning Resource Sets that are linked for bandwidth aggregation across three component carriers, the processing circuitry configures the UE to transmit SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the three component carriers.
Park, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein when the RRC reconfiguration message provides SRS Positioning Resource Sets that are linked for bandwidth aggregation across three component carriers,
the processing circuitry configures the UE to transmit SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the three component carriers (¶121-122 & Fig. 15 (1505 & ¶1515) & ¶54 & ¶125, Peng discloses transmitting, by the UE to the network, a plurality of sounding reference signals (SRSs) of the linked SRS Resource Sets using carrier aggregation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Peng in view of Lee by requiring that the processing circuitry configures the UE to transmit SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the three component carriers when the RRC reconfiguration message provides SRS Positioning Resource Sets that are linked for bandwidth aggregation across three component carriers as taught by Park because delicate downlink (DL) channel estimation according to uplink/downlink (UL/DL) channel reciprocity in a base station (BS) is improved by performing SRS transmission for each UL band according to SRS configuration information (Park, ¶4).
Claims 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng in view of Lee in further view of Abdelghaffar.
Regarding Claim 26, Peng in view of Lee discloses the UE of claim 23.
However, Peng in view of Lee does not disclose wherein the UE is configured to transmit the SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the two or more component carriers using bandwidth aggregation in response to downlink control information (DCI) triggering.
Abdelghaffar, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the UE is configured to transmit the SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the two or more component carriers using bandwidth aggregation (¶88-89 & Fig. 6 (606), Abdelghaffar discloses that the UE is configured to simultaneously transmit a first SRS and a second SRS over CC1 and CC2 respectively where CC1 and CC2 are aggregated using inter-band carrier aggregation) in response to downlink control information (DCI) triggering (¶82 & Fig. 6 (604), Abdelghaffar discloses that the SRS transmission is triggered by a downlink control information (DCI)).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Peng in view of Lee by requiring that the UE is configured to transmit the SRSs of the linked SRS Positioning Resource Sets across the two or more component carriers using bandwidth aggregation in response to downlink control information (DCI) triggering as taught by Abdelghaffar because aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) triggering is improved without data scheduling or a secondary cell (SCell) dormancy indication using the DCI (Abdelghaffar, Abstract & ¶2).
Regarding Claim 27, Peng in view of Lee in further view of Abdelghaffar discloses the UE of claim 26.
Abdelghaffar, a prior art reference in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the DCI triggering comprises decoding of one of a DCI format 0_1, a DCI format 0_2, a DCI format 1_1 and a DCI format 1_2 (¶82 & Fig. 6 (604) & ¶98, Abdelghaffar discloses that the SRS transmission is triggered by a downlink control information (DCI) having a particular format where the particular format includes DCI Format 0_1, DCI Format 1_1, and DCI Format 1_2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Peng in view of Lee in further view of Abdelghaffar by requiring that the DCI triggering comprises decoding of one of a DCI format 0_1, a DCI format 0_2, a DCI format 1_1 and a DCI format 1_2 as taught by Abdelghaffar because aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) triggering is improved without data scheduling or a secondary cell (SCell) dormancy indication using the DCI (Abdelghaffar, Abstract & ¶2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24 and 28 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.
Internet Communications
Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this 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).
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 ERIC NOWLIN whose telephone number is (313)446-6544. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12:00PM-10:00PM.
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/ERIC NOWLIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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