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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 with respect to non-statutory double patenting have been considered but are moot because Applicants’ have amended Claim 1 with claim limitations that were anticipated by the parent US 12,035,247 in the Office Action dated May 4, 2026.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 2, 4 – 7, 9, 12 – 20, 22 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 – 20, 22 of U.S. Patent No. 12,035,247, hereafter 247. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the above claims of the instant application are anticipated by Claims 1 – 20, 22 of 247.
PLEASE NOTE: The claims of 247 are bolded and in parenthesis.
Regarding Claim 1, A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories individually or collectively, configured to cause the UE to: receive, from a base station, an uplink power control configuration for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set associated with an uplink component carrier, wherein the uplink power control configuration configures separate power control adjustment states between SRS transmissions and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions (Claim 1, A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to: receive, from a base station, an uplink power control configuration for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set associated with an uplink component carrier, wherein the uplink power control configuration configures separate power control adjustment states between SRS transmissions and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions), receive, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) that indicates whether transmit power control (TPC) commands for the uplink component carrier correspond to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state when the uplink component carrier is configured with the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS power control (Claim 7, The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) that indicates whether transmit power control (TPC) commands for the uplink component carrier correspond to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state when the uplink component carrier is configured with both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS power control), wherein the DCI includes a block of a first type that is associated with the uplink component carrier (Claim 9, The UE of claim 7, wherein the DCI includes a block of a first type that is associated with the uplink component carrier), and wherein the block includes one bit appended to a TPC field to indicate whether a TPC command associated with the TPC field corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 10, The UE of claim 9, wherein the block includes one bit appended to a TPC field to indicate whether a TPC command associated with the TPC field corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state); and wherein the uplink power control configuration indicates one of a first SRS power control adjustment state or a second SRS power control adjustment state (and wherein the uplink power control configuration indicates a power control adjustment state from one of: a first SRS power control adjustment state that is separate for the SRS transmissions and the PUSCH and that is associated with a first closed loop index, and a second SRS power control adjustment state that is separate for the SRS transmissions and the PUSCH and that is associated with a second closed loop index); and transmit, to the base station, an SRS based at least in part on the uplink power control configuration for the SRS resource set (and transmit, to the base station, an SRS based at least in part on the uplink power control configuration for the SRS resource set).
Regarding Claim 2, The UE of claim 1, wherein: the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: transmit, to the base station, UE capability signaling that indicates that the UE supports the separate power control adjustment states between SRS transmissions and PUSCH transmissions, and wherein the UE supports having the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state separate from PUSCH power control (Claim 2, the UE of claim 1, wherein: the one or more processors are further configured to transmit, to the base station, UE capability signaling that indicates that the UE supports the separate power control adjustment states between SRS transmissions and PUSCH transmissions, and wherein the UE supports having the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state separate from PUSCH power control); and receive the uplink power control configuration for the SRS resource set, based at least in part on the UE capability signaling (and the one or more processors, to receive the uplink power control configuration for the SRS resource set, are configured to receive the uplink power control configuration based at least in part on the UE capability signaling).
Regarding Claim 4, The UE of claim 1, wherein the SRS resource set is associated with one or more of: a first power control adjustment state that is shared between the SRS and the PUSCH, wherein the first power control adjustment state is associated with a first closed loop index (Claim 3, The UE of claim 1, wherein the SRS resource set is associated with one or more of: a first power control adjustment state that is shared between the SRS and the PUSCH, wherein the first power control adjustment state is associated with the first closed loop index); a second power control adjustment state that is shared between the SRS and the PUSCH, wherein the second power control adjustment state is associated with a second closed loop index (a second power control adjustment state that is shared between the SRS and the PUSCH, wherein the second power control adjustment state is associated with the second closed loop index); a third power control adjustment state, corresponding to the first SRS power control adjustment state, that is separate for the SRS and the PUSCH, wherein the third power control adjustment state is associated with the first closed loop index; or a fourth power control adjustment state, corresponding to the second SRS power control adjustment state, that is separate for the SRS and the PUSCH, wherein the fourth power control adjustment state is associated with the second closed loop index (Claim 1, and wherein the uplink power control configuration indicates a power control adjustment state from one of: a first SRS power control adjustment state that is separate for the SRS transmissions and the PUSCH and that is associated with a first closed loop index, and a second SRS power control adjustment state that is separate for the SRS transmissions and the PUSCH and that is associated with a second closed loop index).
Regarding Claim 5, The UE of claim 1, wherein the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state are configured for the uplink component carrier associated with the SRS resource set (Claim 4, The UE of claim 1, wherein the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state are configured for the uplink component carrier associated with the SRS resource set).
Regarding Claim 6, The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: maintain the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS transmissions in the uplink component carrier based at least in part on a transmit power control accumulation (TPC-accumulation) parameter and a two-SRS-power-control-adjustment-state: parameter (Claim 5, The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: maintain the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS transmissions in the uplink component carrier based at least in part on a transmit power control accumulation (TPC-accumulation) parameter and a two-SRS-power-control-adjustment-states parameter).
Regarding Claim 7, The UE of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to: receive, from the base station, the TPC-accumulation parameter and the two- SRS-power-control-adjustment-states parameter via an SRS configuration that is common to a plurality of SRS resource sets associated with the uplink component carrier (Claim 6, The UE of claim 5, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from the base station, the TPC-accumulation parameter and the two-SRS-power-control-adjustment-states parameter via an SRS configuration that is common to a plurality of SRS resource sets associated with the uplink component carrier).
Regarding Claim 9, The UE of claim 1, wherein the DCI is a DCI format 2_3 (Claim 8, The UE of claim 7, wherein the DCI is a DCI format 2_3).
Regarding Claim 12, The UE of claim 1, wherein the block includes a first TPC field corresponding to the first SRS power control adjustment state and a second TPC field corresponding to the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 11, The UE of claim 9, wherein the block includes a first TPC field corresponding to the first SRS power control adjustment state and a second TPC field corresponding to the second SRS power control adjustment state).
Regarding Claim 13, The UE of claim 1, wherein the block includes a TPC field having a TPC command associated with the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state based at least in part on triggered SRS resource sets indicated by the DCI (Claim 12, The UE of claim 9, wherein the block includes a TPC field having a TPC command associated with the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state based at least in part on triggered SRS resource sets indicated by the DCI).
Regarding Claim 14, The UE of claim 13, wherein: the TPC command is applied to the first SRS power control adjustment state when the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the first SRS power control adjustment state; or the TPC command is applied to the second SRS power control adjustment state when the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 13, The UE of claim 12, wherein: the TPC command is applied to the first SRS power control adjustment state when the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the first SRS power control adjustment state; or the TPC command is applied to the second SRS power control adjustment state when the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the second SRS power control adjustment state).
Regarding Claim 15, The UE of claim 13, wherein the TPC command is applied to one or more of the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state in accordance with a fixed rule when a first portion of the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the first SRS power control adjustment state and a second portion of the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 14, The UE of claim 12, wherein the TPC command is applied to one or more of the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state in accordance with a fixed rule when a first portion of the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the first SRS power control adjustment state and a second portion of the triggered SRS resource sets in the uplink component carrier are configured with the second SRS power control adjustment state).
Regarding Claim 16, The UE of claim 15, wherein: the fixed rule indicates that the TPC command is applied to the first SRS power control adjustment state; the fixed rule indicates that the TPC command is applied to one of the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state that is configured for the SRS resource set with a lowest identifier or a highest identifier among triggered SRS resource sets; or the fixed rule indicates that the TPC command is applied to both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 15, The UE of claim 14, wherein: the fixed rule indicates that the TPC command is applied to the first SRS power control adjustment state; the fixed rule indicates that the TPC command is applied to one of the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state that is configured for the SRS resource set with a lowest identifier or a highest identifier among triggered SRS resource sets; or the fixed rule indicates that the TPC command is applied to both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state).
Regarding Claim 17, The UE of claim 1, wherein the DCI indicates a TPC command based at least in part on a radio resource control configuration or based at least in part on a function of an SRS resource set configuration or an SRS request field configuration (Claim 16, The UE of claim 7, wherein the DCI indicates a TPC command based at least in part on a radio resource control configuration or based at least in part on a function of an SRS resource set configuration or an SRS request field configuration).
Regarding Claim 18, The UE of claim 1, wherein the DCI includes a block of a second type that indicates TPC commands for a plurality of uplink component carriers (Claim 17, The UE of claim 7, wherein the DCI includes a block of a second type that indicates TPC commands for a plurality of uplink component carriers).
Regarding Claim 19, The UE of claim 18, wherein the block includes one common bit to indicate whether a plurality of TPC commands corresponding to the plurality of uplink component carriers are associated with the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 18, The UE of claim 17, wherein the block includes one common bit to indicate whether a plurality of TPC commands corresponding to the plurality of uplink component carriers are associated with the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state).
Regarding Claim 20, The UE of claim 18, wherein the block includes one bit for each TPC field to indicate whether a TPC command associated with the TPC field corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state (Claim 19. The UE of claim 17, wherein the block includes one bit for each TPC field to indicate whether a TPC command associated with the TPC field corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state).
Regarding Claim 22, The UE of claim 1, wherein the DCI includes a block of a second type that indicates TPC commands for a plurality of uplink component carriers (17. The UE of claim 7, wherein the DCI includes a block of a second type that indicates TPC commands for a plurality of uplink component carriers), wherein the block includes: a plurality of TPC fields corresponding to the plurality of uplink component carriers and corresponding to the first SRS power control adjustment state, wherein the block includes an additional TPC field with an additional TPC command for an uplink component carrier, in the plurality of uplink component carriers, that is configured with both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state (22. The UE of claim 17, wherein the block includes a plurality of TPC fields corresponding to the plurality of uplink component carriers and corresponding to the first SRS power control adjustment state, wherein the block includes an additional TPC field with an additional TPC command for an uplink component carrier in the plurality of uplink component carriers configured with both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS power control, and wherein the additional TPC command is associated with the second SRS power control adjustment state); or one bit for a TPC command associated with an uplink component carrier, in the plurality of uplink component carriers, that is configured with both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS power control, and wherein the one bit indicates whether the TPC command corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state (20. The UE of claim 17, wherein the block includes one bit for a TPC command associated with an uplink component carrier in the plurality of uplink component carriers configured with both the first SRS power control adjustment state and the second SRS power control adjustment state for SRS power control, and wherein the one bit indicates whether the TPC command associated with a TPC field corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state.).
Claim 3 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 12,035,247, hereafter 247, in view of Matsumura et al. (US 2022/0248336).
Regarding Claim 3, 247 teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. 247 does not teach wherein the first SRS power control adjustment state is associated with a first closed loop index and the second SRS power control adjustment state is associated with a second closed loop index.
Matsumura, which also teaches SRS power control adjustment states, teaches wherein the first SRS power control adjustment state is associated with a first closed loop index and the second SRS power control adjustment state 1s associated with a second closed loop index (Section 0132, Equation 5, “l” is the closed loop index, there can be a plurality of closed loop index values which gives rise to a plurality of SRS power adjustment states or values (PsubSRS,b,f,c (I,qsubs,l)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of 247 with the above features of Matsumura for the purpose of appropriately determining a parameter for transmission power control as taught by Matsumura.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record fails to teach or render obvious the following features: Regarding Claim 1, wherein the block includes one bit appended to a TPC field to indicate whether a TPC command associated with the TPC field corresponds to the first SRS power control adjustment state or the second SRS power control adjustment state. All claims that depend from Claim 1 are allowable for the same reasons set forth above. Additionally Claims 21 and 23 are allowed with respect to non-statutory double patenting.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shattil (US 10,637,544) Col. 4 lines 40 – 41 teaches vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communications and Jia et al. (US 2016/0352478) Section 0003 teaches Discrete Fourier Transform Spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) both of which are disclosed in Applicants’ specification but not claimed.
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.
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/RAYMOND S DEAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Raymond S. Dean
October 2, 2026
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