Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 18, 2026
Application No. 18/837,323

CONFIGURATIONS AND OPERATIONS RELATED TO SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNALS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Aug 09, 2024
Priority
Feb 11, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTEP2022053346
Examiner
PATEL, CHANDRAHAS B
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Nokia Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allowance Rate
804 granted / 909 resolved
+28.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
20 currently pending
Career history
925
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
8.0%
-32.0% vs TC avg
§103
40.5%
+0.5% vs TC avg
§102
40.9%
+0.9% vs TC avg
§112
5.6%
-34.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 909 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
DETAILED ACTION Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 3-5, 8-15, 17, 19-21 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (USPN 11,729,782). Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform: receiving a configuration related to sounding reference signal resources comprising a first sounding reference signal resource group and a second sounding reference signal resource group, wherein the first sounding reference signal resource group is associated to a first waveform and the second sounding reference signal resource group is associated to a second waveform different from the first waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31, SRS resource sets are associated with different transmission resources which are different waveform whether they are beams or different signals]. Regarding claims 3 and 19, Zhang teaches receiving an indication related to an applicable waveform for transmission [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; and transmitting at least one transmission with at least one resource comprised in the first sounding reference signal resource group if the applicable waveform is the first waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; or transmitting at least one transmission with at least one resource comprised in the second sounding reference signal resource group if the applicable waveform is the second waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claims 4 and 20, Zhang teaches determining that the first sounding reference signal resource group is active for transmission if the first waveform is indicated as the applicable waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; or determining that the second sounding reference signal resource group is active for transmission if the second waveform is indicated as the applicable waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claims 5 and 21, Zhang teaches the indication indicates whether the at least one resource is comprised in the first sounding reference signal resource group or in the second sounding reference signal resource group [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; and the apparatus is caused to perform: determining that the first sounding reference signal resource group is active for transmission and the first waveform is the applicable waveform if the indicated at least one resource is comprised in the first sounding reference signal resource group [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; or determining that the second sounding reference signal resource group is active and the second waveform is the applicable waveform if the indicated at least one resource is comprised in the second sounding reference signal resource group [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claim 8, Zhang teaches the sounding reference signal resources are configured as a single resource set comprising the first sounding reference signal resource group and the second sounding reference signal resource group, wherein the first sounding reference signal resource group is a first resource subset and the second reference signal resource group is a second resource subset, wherein the first resource subset is associated to the first waveform and the second resource subset is associated to the second waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claim 9, Zhang teaches the sounding reference signal resources comprised in the first sounding reference signal resource group comprise or are associated with parameters corresponding to the first waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; and the sounding reference signal resources comprised in the second sounding reference signal resource group comprise or are associated with parameters corresponding to the second waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claim 10, Zhang teaches the sounding reference signal resources comprise or are associated with parameters corresponding to the first waveform and the second waveform such that a parameter includes a first value corresponding to the first waveform and a second value corresponding to the second waveform, wherein the apparatus is configured to apply the first value if the first waveform is the applicable waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]; or the apparatus is configured to apply the second value if the second waveform is the applicable waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claim 11, Zhang teaches the parameters comprise or are related to, at least, one or more of: time domain allocation; frequency domain allocation; bandwidth related parameters; sequence related parameters; power related parameters; time bundling related parameters; SRS repetition parameters; partial-sounding-across-frequency parameters; number of ports [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31]. Regarding claims 12 and 28, Zhang teaches receiving power control elements configured for the first waveform and the second waveform; and determining the power control elements for transmission based on the applicable waveform [Col. 9, line 42 – Col. 10, line 2]. Regarding claim 13, Zhang teaches the indicated waveform is applicable after a predetermined time period [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 2]. Regarding claim 14, Zhang teaches the indicated waveform is applicable during a predetermined time period [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 2]. Regarding claim 15, Zhang teaches the indicated waveform is applicable until receiving an indication related to a change of the waveform [Col. 10, lines 32-56]. Regarding claim 17, Zhang teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a user equipment from a network node, a configuration related to sounding reference signal resources comprising a first sounding reference signal resource group and a second sounding reference signal resource group, wherein the first sounding reference signal resource group is associated to a first waveform and the second sounding reference signal resource group is associated to a second waveform different from the first waveform [Col. 9, line 17 – Col. 10, line 31, SRS resource sets are associated with different transmission resources which are different waveform whether they are beams or different signals]. 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, 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. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (USPN 11,729,782) in view of Khoshnevisan (USPN 11,737,112). Regarding claim 2, Zhang teaches an apparatus as discussed in rejection of claim 1. However, Zhang does not teach the first waveform is discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, DFT-S-OFDM, and the second waveform is cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, CP-OFDM. Khoshnevisan teaches teach the first waveform is discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, DFT-S-OFDM, and the second waveform is cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, CP-OFDM [Col. 23, lines 5-14]. It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM waveforms so that single stream transmissions can be done with power savings. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 6 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jiang et al. (USPN 12,439,403) teaches transmitting a configuration by a network node and comprising orthogonal code sequences for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource. Each of the orthogonal code sequence is configured for L adjacent SRS symbols within the SRS resource where L is a length of each of the orthogonal code sequences and L and A are positive integers. A configuration is received by wireless device from network node and comprises orthogonal code sequences for SRS resource. Yang et al. (US-PGPUB 2024/0267186) teaches receiving a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set configuration that indicates a first set of parameters from a network entity. The processor receives a second SRS resource set configuration with a same usage as the first SRS resource set configuration that indicates a second set of parameters, where a subset of parameters is different between the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters. The same usage between the first SRS resource set configuration and the second SRS resource configuration is a codebook usage. Zhou et al. (USPN 11,722,369) teaches receiving a configuration of sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets for SRS transmission from a base station via a downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE). An indication of an update of parameters is received via the DCI or the MAC-CE for the SRS resource sets. The update is applied to SRS transmissions, where the parameters comprise a non-zero power channel state information reference signal identification (NZP CSI-RS ID) associated with the resource set. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHANDRAHAS PATEL whose telephone number is (571)270-1211. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30 - 17:30. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Chandrahas B Patel/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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Prosecution Timeline

Aug 09, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 31, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+7.1%)
2y 7m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 909 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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