DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments, see page 7 of the remarks, filed on 6/11/2026, with respect to 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection or objection of claim 12 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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
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 1-5, 8-11, 13-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gopal et al. (US 20210329508, Gopal hereinafter, cited on IDS dated 09/16/2025) in view of Gorokhov et al. (US 20220216966, Gorokhov et al. hereinafter) and further in view of Wu et al. (US 20220337373, Wu hereinafter).
As to claim 1: Gopal discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising:
a transceiver (see at least paragraph [0139] and Fig. 9, transceiver); and
a processor (see at least paragraph [0139] and Fig. 9, processor) coupled to the transceiver, configured to: transmit via the transceiver, a capability report for antenna switching (AS) Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), wherein the capability report is associated with a plurality of receive antenna of the UE (see at least paragraphs [0065], [0154] and Fig. 11, at 1105, the UE may report a first SRS antenna-switching capability (e.g., maximum antenna-switching capability) to a base station. capability report is associated with multiple antenna. A UE may have multiple receive antennas. The SRS antenna-switching allows a UE to select one or more receive antennas to transmit the SRS (see paragraph [0065]).);
transmit via the transceiver, a first SRS according to the first temporary capability reduction and the AS SRS instructions (see at least paragraph [0155] and Fig. 11, at 1110, the UE may transmit an SRS via a second SRS antenna-switching capability (i.e. reduced SRS antenna switching capability) when the first network connection has priority over the second network connection, where the second SRS antenna-switching capability is reduced with respect to the first SRS antenna-switching capability.).
Gopal does not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability; receive via the transceiver, AS SRS instructions based on the capability report; and transmit via the transceiver, a first temporary capability reduction for a duration.
However Gorokhov discloses receive via the transceiver, SRS instructions based on the capability report (see at least paragraph [0067] and Fig. 4, the BS 110 may transmit a first SRS configuration (interpreted as SRS instruction) to the UE 120 based on the SRS switching capability.);
transmit via the transceiver, a first temporary capability reduction for a duration (see at least paragraph [0071], the UE 120 may transmit one or more SRSs using a second SRS configuration (interpreted as temporary capability reduction) based at least in part on determining that the first SRS configuration exceeds the antenna capability (for a duration) of the UE 120. For example, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration based at least in part on the first SRS configuration exceeding the antenna capability of the UE 120. In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration based at least in part on the antenna capability 410 of the UE 120. For example, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration such that an impact of the difference between the first SRS configuration and the antenna capability is reduced or minimized, such that a number of dropped SRS transmissions of the first SRS configuration is reduced or minimized, or the like.).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement second SRS configuration, as taught by Gorokhov, into the invention of Gopal in order to improve quality of sounding information determined using SRS, which improves reliability and throughput of the network (see Gorokhov, paragraph [0063]).
Gopal and Gorokhov do not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability.
However Wu discloses wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability (see at least paragraphs [0043] and [0058], UEs may have different capabilities for various usages. The UE 101 may support a maximum of A1 number antennas (or antenna ports) for antenna switching use case. An SRS resource 311 having two antenna ports 305 and 307 and configured for both antenna switching and codebook use cases. The UE 101 may configure the antenna ports of the SRS resource(s) for the first usage based one or more configuration parameters received from the BS 103, the one or more configuration parameters may be one or more bitmaps. A bitmap can be configured for one or more SRS resource sets to indicate the use cases for all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set(s).).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement UE capability to include a bitmap, as taught by Wu, into the invention of Gopal and Gorokhov in order to reduce the overhead consumption of SRS resources (see Wu, paragraph [0011]).
As to claim 2: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal further discloses wherein to maintain phase continuity, the processor is configured to: calibrate one or more SRS ports participating in the AS SRS to transmit with substantially a same transmit power (see at least Figs. 3-4E SRS antenna).
As to claim 3: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal further discloses wherein subsequent to the duration, the processor is further configured to: determine according to the AS SRS instructions that a second SRS overlaps an other transmission in a time domain (see at least paragraph [0101], the UE will determine whether to operate the NR SRS antenna-switching at a maximum capability or a reduced capability when the SRS Tx from the NR uplink SF 506 overlaps with an LTE TX from an uplink SF 508.); determine that the other transmission has an absolute priority over the second SRS and transmit via the transceiver, the other transmission but not the second SRS (see at least paragraph [0156], the UE may transmit at least one additional SRS via the first SRS antenna-switching capability when the second network connection has priority over the first network connection.).
As to claim 4: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal further discloses wherein subsequent to the duration, the processor is further configured to: determine according to the AS SRS instructions that a second SRS overlaps an other transmission in a time domain (see at least paragraph [0101], the UE will determine whether to operate the NR SRS antenna-switching at a maximum capability or a reduced capability when the SRS Tx from the NR uplink SF 506 overlaps with an LTE TX from an uplink SF 508.);
determine that the other transmission does not have an absolute priority over the second SRS and transmit via the transceiver, the second SRS (see at least paragraph [0155] and Fig. 11, at 1110, the UE may transmit an SRS via a second SRS antenna-switching capability (i.e. reduced SRS antenna switching capability) when the first network connection has priority over the second network connection, where the second SRS antenna-switching capability is reduced with respect to the first SRS antenna-switching capability.).
As to claim 5: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 4. Gopal further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to: scale a transmit power corresponding to the other transmission to satisfy a radio frequency requirement; and transmit via the transceiver, the other transmission (see at least paragraph [0155] and Fig. 11, at 1110, the UE may transmit an SRS via a second SRS antenna-switching capability (i.e. reduced SRS antenna switching capability) when the first network connection has priority over the second network connection, where the second SRS antenna-switching capability is reduced with respect to the first SRS antenna-switching capability.).
As to claim 8: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to: detect a list of slot offsets in an aperiodic SRS-ResourceSet; and determine slots for a slot offset based on available slots (see at least paragraph [0070] and Fig. 5, list of slot offsets in Fi. 5).
As to claim 9: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal does not explicitly disclose wherein the different SRS transmit port switching capabilities comprise 1T1R, 1T2R, 2T2R, 1T4R, 2T4R, 4T4R, 1T6R, 2T6R,1T8R, 4T8R.
However Gorokhov discloses wherein the different SRS transmit port switching capabilities comprise 1T1R, 1T2R, 2T2R, 1T4R, 2T4R, 4T4R, 1T6R, 2T6R,1T8R, 4T8R (see at least paragraphs [0064]-0065], the SRS switching capability can be expressed as 1T1R, 1T2R, 1T4R, 2T4R, and so on.).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement second SRS configuration, as taught by Gorokhov, into the invention of Gopal in order to improve quality of sounding information determined using SRS, which improves reliability and throughput of the network (see Gorokhov, paragraph [0063]).
As to claim 10: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal further discloses wherein the first temporary capability reduction is carried via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, Media Access Control (MAC)-control element (CE) signaling, or layer 1 signaling (see at least paragraph [0070], the SRS may be configured for periodic transmission (e.g., semi-static transmission). The periodic transmission may be configured via RRC signaling. A periodicity for an SRS configuration may include: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, or 2560 slots. Alternatively, the SRS may be configured for aperiodic transmission (e.g., dynamic transmission) via a grant (e.g., DCI Format 1_1 and DCI Format 0_1). Still further, the SRS may be semi-persistently activated/deactivated via a MAC control element (MAC-CE).).
As to claim 11: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the UE of claim 1. Gopal further discloses wherein the first temporary capability reduction corresponds to a first predefined time window, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit via the transceiver, a second temporary capability reduction outside of the first predefined time window (see at least paragraphs [0081]-[0086], degrading a number of antennas used for NR SRS-switching may impact NR downlink performance due to an inability to sound on all possible NR Rx antenna ports. For example, if the UE's NR SRS capability is 1T4R, degrading to 1T2R may reduce the NR downlink throughput because the base station may only receive sounding information on two antennas instead of four. That is, although the UE is capable of transmitting the SRS from one of four antennas, the UE may only transmit the SRS on one of two antennas. Signaling a downgrade of the UE's SRS UE-capability specifies the UE to declare a radio link failure and perform an attach/detach procedure to provide updated radio capabilities. Additionally, the NR SRS antenna-switching capability may be reduced to less than a maximum capability when LTE is prioritized. For example, a 1T4R capability may be reduced to 1T3R or 1T2R.).
As to claim 13: Gopal discloses a method comprising:
transmitting a capability report for antenna switching (AS) Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), wherein the capability report is associated with a plurality of receive antenna of a user equipment (UE) (see at least paragraphs [0065], [0154] and Fig. 11, at 1105, the UE may report a first SRS antenna-switching capability (e.g., maximum antenna-switching capability) to a base station. capability report is associated with multiple antenna. A UE may have multiple receive antennas. The SRS antenna-switching allows a UE to select one or more receive antennas to transmit the SRS (see paragraph [0065]).);
transmitting a first SRS according to the first temporary capability reduction and the AS SRS instructions (see at least paragraph [0155] and Fig. 11, at 1110, the UE may transmit an SRS via a second SRS antenna-switching capability (i.e. reduced SRS antenna switching capability) when the first network connection has priority over the second network connection, where the second SRS antenna-switching capability is reduced with respect to the first SRS antenna-switching capability.).
Gopal does not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability; receiving AS SRS instructions based on the capability report; and transmitting a first temporary capability reduction for a duration.
However Gorokhov discloses receiving AS SRS instructions based on the capability report (see at least paragraph [0067] and Fig. 4, the BS 110 may transmit a first SRS configuration (interpreted as SRS instruction) to the UE 120 based on the SRS switching capability.); and
transmitting a first temporary capability reduction for a duration (see at least paragraph [0071], the UE 120 may transmit one or more SRSs using a second SRS configuration (interpreted as temporary capability reduction) based at least in part on determining that the first SRS configuration exceeds the antenna capability (for a duration) of the UE 120. For example, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration based at least in part on the first SRS configuration exceeding the antenna capability of the UE 120. In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration based at least in part on the antenna capability 410 of the UE 120. For example, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration such that an impact of the difference between the first SRS configuration and the antenna capability is reduced or minimized, such that a number of dropped SRS transmissions of the first SRS configuration is reduced or minimized, or the like.).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement second SRS configuration, as taught by Gorokhov, into the invention of Gopal in order to improve quality of sounding information determined using SRS, which improves reliability and throughput of the network (see Gorokhov, paragraph [0063]).
Gopal and Gorokhov do not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability.
However Wu discloses wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability (see at least paragraphs [0043] and [0058], UEs may have different capabilities for various usages. The UE 101 may support a maximum of A1 number antennas (or antenna ports) for antenna switching use case. An SRS resource 311 having two antenna ports 305 and 307 and configured for both antenna switching and codebook use cases. The UE 101 may configure the antenna ports of the SRS resource(s) for the first usage based one or more configuration parameters received from the BS 103, the one or more configuration parameters may be one or more bitmaps. A bitmap can be configured for one or more SRS resource sets to indicate the use cases for all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set(s).).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement UE capability to include a bitmap, as taught by Wu, into the invention of Gopal and Gorokhov in order to reduce the overhead consumption of SRS resources (see Wu, paragraph [0011]).
As to claim 14: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the method of claim 13. Gopal further discloses further comprising maintaining phase continuity by calibrating one or more SRS ports participating in the AS SRS to transmit with substantially a same transmit power (see at least Figs. 3-4E SRS antenna).
As to claim 15: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the method of claim 13. Gopal further discloses wherein subsequent to the duration, the method further comprising: determining according to the AS SRS instructions that a second SRS overlaps an other transmission in a time domain (see at least paragraph [0101], the UE will determine whether to operate the NR SRS antenna-switching at a maximum capability or a reduced capability when the SRS Tx from the NR uplink SF 506 overlaps with an LTE TX from an uplink SF 508.); determining that the other transmission has an absolute priority over the second SRS and transmitting the other transmission but not the second SRS (see at least paragraph [0156], the UE may transmit at least one additional SRS via the first SRS antenna-switching capability when the second network connection has priority over the first network connection.).
As to claim 16: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the method of claim 13. Gopal further discloses wherein subsequent to the duration, the method further comprising: determining according to the AS SRS instructions that a second SRS overlaps an other transmission in a time domain (see at least paragraph [0101], the UE will determine whether to operate the NR SRS antenna-switching at a maximum capability or a reduced capability when the SRS Tx from the NR uplink SF 506 overlaps with an LTE TX from an uplink SF 508.); determining that the other transmission does not have an absolute priority over the second AS SRS and transmitting the second SRS and the other transmission, wherein a transmit power corresponding to the other transmission is scaled to satisfy a radio frequency requirement (see at least paragraph [0155] and Fig. 11, at 1110, the UE may transmit an SRS via a second SRS antenna-switching capability (i.e. reduced SRS antenna switching capability) when the first network connection has priority over the second network connection, where the second SRS antenna-switching capability is reduced with respect to the first SRS antenna-switching capability.).
As to claim 19: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the method of claim 13. Gopal further discloses further comprising: detecting a list of slot offsets in an aperiodic SRS-ResourceSet; and determining slots for a slot offset based on available slots (see at least paragraph [0070] and Fig. 5, list of slot offsets in Fi. 5).
As to claim 20: Gopal, Gorokhov and Wu disclose the method of claim 1. Gopal does not explicitly disclose wherein the different SRS transmit port switching capabilities comprise 1T1R, 1T2R, 2T2R, 1T4R, 2T4R, 4T4R, 1T6R, 2T6R,1T8R, 4T8R.
However Gorokhov discloses wherein the different SRS transmit port switching capabilities comprise 1T1R, 1T2R, 2T2R, 1T4R, 2T4R, 4T4R, 1T6R, 2T6R,1T8R, 4T8R (see at least paragraphs [0064]-0065], the SRS switching capability can be expressed as 1T1R, 1T2R, 1T4R, 2T4R, and so on.).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement second SRS configuration, as taught by Gorokhov, into the invention of Gopal in order to improve quality of sounding information determined using SRS, which improves reliability and throughput of the network (see Gorokhov, paragraph [0063]).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gopal et al. (US 20210329508, Gopal hereinafter, cited on IDS dated 09/16/2025) in view of Gorokhov et al. (US 20220216966, Gorokhov et al. hereinafter) and further in view of Namgoong et al. (US 20170288759, Namgoong hereinafter) and further in view of Wu et al. (US 20220337373, Wu hereinafter).
As to claim 12: Gopal discloses a base station (BS), comprising:
a transceiver (see at least paragraph [0059] and Fig. 2, antennas 234-1 through 234-t); and
a processor (see at least paragraph [0059] and Fig. 2, a processor) coupled to the transceiver, configured to: receive via the transceiver, a capability report for antenna switching (AS) Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), wherein the capability report is associated with a plurality of receive antenna of a user equipment (UE) (see at least paragraphs [0065], [0154] and Fig. 11, at 1105, the UE may report a first SRS antenna-switching capability (e.g., maximum antenna-switching capability) to a base station. capability report is associated with multiple antenna. A UE may have multiple receive antennas. The SRS antenna-switching allows a UE to select one or more receive antennas to transmit the SRS (see paragraph [0065]).);
receive from the UE, via the transceiver, a first SRS and a second SRS according to the first temporary capability reduction and the AS SRS instructions (see at least paragraph [0055] and Fig. 11, the UE 115 may transmit SRSs (interpreted a first and a second) with a reduced SRS antenna-switching capability when an LTE network connection is prioritized over an NR network connections and based on SRS antenna switching capability from UE (interpreted AS SRS instruction from the UE). );
Gopal does not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability; transmit to the UE, via the transceiver, AS SRS instructions based on the capability report; receive from the UE, via the transceiver, a first temporary capability reduction for a duration; measure an uplink propagation channel of the UE based on the first SRS and the second SRS; and estimate a downlink propagation channel of the UE based on the first and the second SRS.
However Gorokhov discloses transmit to the UE, via the transceiver, AS SRS instructions based on the capability report (see at least paragraph [0067] and Fig. 4, the BS 110 may transmit a first SRS configuration (interpreted as SRS instruction) to the UE 120 based on the SRS switching capability.);
receive from the UE, via the transceiver, a first temporary capability reduction for a duration (see at least paragraph [0071], the UE 120 may transmit one or more SRSs using a second SRS configuration (interpreted as temporary capability reduction) based at least in part on determining that the first SRS configuration exceeds the antenna capability (for a duration) of the UE 120. For example, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration based at least in part on the first SRS configuration exceeding the antenna capability of the UE 120. In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration based at least in part on the antenna capability 410 of the UE 120. For example, the UE 120 may determine the second SRS configuration such that an impact of the difference between the first SRS configuration and the antenna capability is reduced or minimized, such that a number of dropped SRS transmissions of the first SRS configuration is reduced or minimized, or the like.).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement second SRS configuration, as taught by Gorokhov, into the invention of Gopal in order to improve quality of sounding information determined using SRS, which improves reliability and throughput of the network (see Gorokhov, paragraph [0063]).
Gopal and Gorokhov do not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability; measure an uplink propagation channel of the UE based on the first SRS and the second SRS; and estimate a downlink propagation channel of the UE based on the first and the second SRS.
However Namgoong discloses measure an uplink propagation channel of the UE based on the first SRS and the second SRS and estimate a downlink propagation channel of the UE based on the first and the second SRS (see at least paragraph [0095], the base station may estimate the downlink propagation channel based on the base station's estimation of the uplink propagation channel wherein the base station may measure the propagation channel based on the SRS received from the UE.).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement estimation of downlink propagation, as taught by Namgoong, into the invention of Gopal and Gorokhov in order to improve spectral efficiency (see Namgoong, paragraph [0004]).
Gopal, Gorokhov and Namgoong do not explicitly disclose wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability.
However Wu discloses wherein the capability report includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap corresponds to a different SRS transmit port switching capability (see at least paragraphs [0043] and [0058], UEs may have different capabilities for various usages. The UE 101 may support a maximum of A1 number antennas (or antenna ports) for antenna switching use case. An SRS resource 311 having two antenna ports 305 and 307 and configured for both antenna switching and codebook use cases. The UE 101 may configure the antenna ports of the SRS resource(s) for the first usage based one or more configuration parameters received from the BS 103, the one or more configuration parameters may be one or more bitmaps. A bitmap can be configured for one or more SRS resource sets to indicate the use cases for all or a subset of the SRS resources in the configured SRS resource set(s).).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement UE capability to include a bitmap, as taught by Wu, into the invention of Gopal, Gorokhov and Namgoong in order to reduce the overhead consumption of SRS resources (see Wu, paragraph [0011]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7 and 17-18 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
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 KABIR U JAHANGIR whose telephone number is (571)272-0796. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10am to 6:30pm.
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/Chandrahas B Patel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/K. J./
Examiner, Art Unit 2464
Prosecution Insights