DETAILED ACTION
The instant application having Application No. 18/662115 filed on 05/13/2024 is presented for examination by the examiner.
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 . 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 for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informality:
In this case, claim 5 recites limitation for performing certain step(s) only if a specific condition is satisfied (Conditional Statement). Such limitations are considered as optional limitations since they are not performed until specific conditions are met. Applicant should change the word “in a case” to “responsive to determining that…..” in order to alter an optional limitation to a required limitation. For the purpose of examination, claimed limitations will be considered as optional limitations since they are not performed until specific conditions are met.
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 of this title, 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 1-4, 6-12, 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) in view of Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) in view of KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1).
As per claim 1, LIM discloses “A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for a Simultaneous Transmission with Multi-Panel (STxMP) operation, the method comprising:” [(par. 0009), receiving a higher layer signal from the base station, identifying whether the higher layer signal includes a parameter for supporting the STxMP, in case that the higher layer signal includes the parameter for supporting the STxMP, identifying support of the STxMP based on multi-downlink control information (DCI), performing a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH transmission overlapping at least in a time domain, based on the STxMP.]receiving, from a Base Station (BS), a configuration for multi-Downlink Control Information (DCI) based STxMP Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH);” [(par. 0009), receiving a higher layer signal from the base station, identifying whether the higher layer signal includes a parameter for supporting the STxMP, in case that the higher layer signal includes the parameter for supporting the STxMP, identifying support of the STxMP based on multi-downlink control information (DCI), performing a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH transmission overlapping at least in a time domain, based on the STxMP.] “receiving, from the BS, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set configuration including a first SRS resource set and a second SRS resource set;” [(par. 0285), The base station may configure at least one SRS configuration with regard to each uplink BWP in order to transfer configuration information for SRS transmission to the UE, and may also configure at least one SRS resource set with regard to each SRS configuration. As an example, the base station and the UE may exchange upper signaling information as follows, in order to transfer information regarding the SRS resource set. (par. 0287), srs-ResourceIdList: a set of SRS resource indices referred to by SRS resource sets.] “receiving, from the BS, first DCI in a first Control Resource Set (CORESET) associated with a first CORESET pool index;” [(par. 0010), transmitting, to the terminal, first downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) from a first control resource set (CORESET) having a CORESET pool index configured to be 0, and second DCI for scheduling a second PUSCH from a second CORESET having a CORESET pool index configured to be 1, and performing a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH reception overlapping at least in a time domain, based on the STxMP.] “receiving, from the BS, second DCI in a second CORESET associated with a second CORESET pool index different from the first CORESET pool index;” [(par. 0010), transmitting, to the terminal, first downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) from a first control resource set (CORESET) having a CORESET pool index configured to be 0, and second DCI for scheduling a second PUSCH from a second CORESET having a CORESET pool index configured to be 1, and performing a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH reception overlapping at least in a time domain, based on the STxMP.]
LIM does not explicitly disclose “determining a size of a first field in the first DCI based on a number of first SRS resources configured in the first SRS resource set; determining a size of a second field in the second DCI based on a number of second SRS resources configured in the second SRS resource set; transmitting, to the BS, a first PUSCH scheduled by the first DCI based on the first field; and transmitting, to the BS, a second PUSCH scheduled by the second DCI based on the second field”.
However, Chen discloses “determining a size of a first field in the first DCI based on a number of first SRS resources configured in the first SRS resource set;” [(par. 0072), The SRI field in the scheduling DCI may indicate one or multiple SRS resources for a scheduled PUSCH, and the PUSCH may be transmitted using the same precoder and spatial domain filter (e.g., beam) as the indicated SRS resources. The size of the SRI field may be a function of the quantity of SRS resources in the SRS resource set configured for the UE.] “transmitting, to the BS, a first PUSCH scheduled by the first DCI based on the first field;” [(par. 0072), The SRI field in the scheduling DCI may indicate one or multiple SRS resources for a scheduled PUSCH, and the PUSCH may be transmitted using the same precoder and spatial domain filter (e.g., beam) as the indicated SRS resources. The size of the SRI field may be a function of the quantity of SRS resources in the SRS resource set configured for the UE.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chen’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
Furthermore, KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “determining a size of a second field in the second DCI based on a number of second SRS resources configured in the second SRS resource set;” as [(par. 0087), a size of a first SRI field in the first DCI is based on the first number of SRS resources and a second SRI field in the second DCI is based on the second number of SRS resources. For example, when two SRS resource sets associated with two CORESET pool index values may have a same number of SRS resources (e.g., N SRS0=NSRS1), the number of bits for the SRI field in each DCI is determined based on this number.] “and transmitting, to the BS, a second PUSCH scheduled by the second DCI based on the second field” [(par. 0005), transmitting, to the UE, a second DCI that schedules a second PUSCH and indicates a second SRI value.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate KHOSHNEVISAN’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 2, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “wherein: the first DCI comprises a DCI format 0_1, and the second DCI comprises the DCI format 0_1” as [(par. 0081), the first DCI and the second DCI have a first format or a second format. In one example, the first format may correspond to DCI format 0_1.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate KHOSHNEVISAN’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 3, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
Chen discloses “wherein: the first field in the first DCI comprises a first SRS resource indicator (SRI) field,” [(par. 0072), The SRI field in the scheduling DCI may indicate one or multiple SRS resources for a scheduled PUSCH, and the PUSCH may be transmitted using the same precoder and spatial domain filter (e.g., beam) as the indicated SRS resources. The size of the SRI field may be a function of the quantity of SRS resources in the SRS resource set configured for the UE.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chen’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
Furthermore, KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “the second field in the second DCI comprises a second SRI field” [(par. 0087), a size of a first SRI field in the first DCI is based on the first number of SRS resources and a second SRI field in the second DCI is based on the second number of SRS resources. For example, when two SRS resource sets associated with two CORESET pool index values may have a same number of SRS resources (e.g., N SRS0=NSRS1), the number of bits for the SRI field in each DCI is determined based on this number.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate KHOSHNEVISAN’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 4, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “wherein: both the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set are used for non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission,” [(par. 0063), In this case, to determine whether an SRS resource indicator (SRI) indicates SRS resource or SRS resources (e.g., for non-code book (NCB)) from a first SRS resource set or from a second SRS resource set, an SRI field in an uplink (UL) DCI may be interpreted differently depending on whether the DCI is detected in a CORESET (e.g., with CORESET pool index value of 0 or 1).]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate KHOSHNEVISAN’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
Chen discloses “the first field indicates a first precoder applied to the first PUSCH, and the second field indicates a second precoder applied to the second PUSCH” [(par. 0071), The SRI may indicate one SRS resource for the UE 115-a to use for PUSCH, and the number of ports configured for the SRS resource may determine the number of antenna ports for a PUSCH. The PUSCH may be transmitted using the same spatial domain filter (e.g., beam) as the indicated SRS resources. The network entity 105-a may indicate a number of layers (e.g., a rank) and a transmission precoding matrix index (TPMI) for the PUSCH transmission in a separate DCI field (e.g., a DCI field “precoding information and number of layers”)..]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chen’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 6, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
Chen discloses “wherein: the number of the second SRS resources configured in the second SRS resource set is one, and the size of the second field in the second DCI is zero” [(par. 0093), In another example, the UE 115 may communicate with the network entity 105-b with overlapping PUSCH transmissions (e.g., multi-DCI based communications with multiple TRPs (mTRP)). That is, the network entity 105-b may transmit multiple DCIs indicating for the UE 115 to transmit at least two different PUSCH transmissions (e.g., a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH transmission) in the same serving cell. The PUSCH transmissions may be overlapping (e.g., partially or fully) in the time domain (e.g., and in the frequency domain). The PUSCH transmissions may be associated with different coresetPoolIndex values (e.g., coresetPoolIndex value 0 and coresetPoolIndex value 1), rather than a same coresetPoolIndex value (e.g., as in single-DCI based SDM). The two PUSCH transmissions may additionally be associated with the first set of layers 505-a and the second set of layers 505-b, respectively (e.g., and different TCI states, power control parameters, precoders, etc.).]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chen’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 7, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “further comprising determining a size of the first DCI and a size of the second DCI, wherein: the size of the first DCI is the same as the size of the second DCI, and the size of the first field in the first DCI is different from the size of the second field in the second DCI” as [(par. 0087), a size of a first SRI field in the first DCI is based on the first number of SRS resources and a second SRI field in the second DCI is based on the second number of SRS resources. For example, when two SRS resource sets associated with two CORESET pool index values may have a same number of SRS resources (e.g., N SRS0=NSRS1), the number of bits for the SRI field in each DCI is determined based on this number.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate KHOSHNEVISAN’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 8, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
Chen discloses “wherein the first PUSCH and the second PUSCH overlap in time domain and frequency domain” [(par. 0093), In another example, the UE 115 may communicate with the network entity 105-b with overlapping PUSCH transmissions (e.g., multi-DCI based communications with multiple TRPs (mTRP)). That is, the network entity 105-b may transmit multiple DCIs indicating for the UE 115 to transmit at least two different PUSCH transmissions (e.g., a first PUSCH transmission and a second PUSCH transmission) in the same serving cell. The PUSCH transmissions may be overlapping (e.g., partially or fully) in the time domain (e.g., and in the frequency domain). The PUSCH transmissions may be associated with different coresetPoolIndex values (e.g., coresetPoolIndex value 0 and coresetPoolIndex value 1), rather than a same coresetPoolIndex value (e.g., as in single-DCI based SDM). The two PUSCH transmissions may additionally be associated with the first set of layers 505-a and the second set of layers 505-b, respectively (e.g., and different TCI states, power control parameters, precoders, etc.).]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chen’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to indicate a specific uplink resource for uplink transmission.
As per claims 9-12, 14-16, as [see rejections of claims 1-4, 6-8.]
As per claims 17, 19, 20, as [see rejections of claims 1, 6, 7.]
As per claim 18, as [see rejections of claims 2 and 3.]
Claims 5, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) in view of Chen et al. (US 2024/0260029 A1) in view of KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 2023/0171783 A1) in view of Cheng et al. (US 2019/0261195 A1).
As per claim 5, LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN discloses “The method of claim 1” as [see rejection of claim 1.]
LIM discloses “wherein: both the first SRS resource set and the second SRS resource set are used for codebook-based PUSCH transmission,” as [(par. 0297), In addition, if the place of use of the SRS resource set is configured as “codebook” or “antennaSwitching” in view of the place of use of the SRS resource set including the transmitted SRS resource, the minimum time interval may be determined as N2 symbols.]
LIM in view of Chen in view of KHOSHNEVISAN does not explicitly disclose “in a case that the size of the first field is not zero, the first field indicates a first beam applied to the first PUSCH, and in a case that the size of the second field is not zero, the second field indicates a second beam applied to the second PUSCH”.
However, Cheng disclose “in a case that the size of the first field is not zero, the first field indicates a first beam applied to the first PUSCH, and in a case that the size of the second field is not zero, the second field indicates a second beam applied to the second PUSCH” as [(par. 0089), As shown in FIG. 9, different from the beam indication for the PUCCH, the UL beam for the PUSCH may be indicated by the SRI bit field in the DCI 900 in some of the present implementations.]
LIM et al. (US 2025/0274961 A1) and Cheng et al. (US 2019/0261195 A1) are analogous art because they are the same field of endeavor of network communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Cheng’s teaching into LIM’s teaching. The motivation for making the above modification would be to allow a base station to control a specific beam resource for uplink transmission.
As per claim 13, as [see rejections of claim 5.]
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANG HANG YEUNG whose telephone number is (571)270-7319. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rebecca Song can be reached on (571) 270-3667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANG HANG YEUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2417