DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is a response to Preliminary Amendment made to an Application No. 18/844,702 filed on 09/06/2024 in which claims 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9 are amended and claim 10 is canceled. Accordingly, Claims 1-9 are currently pending for examination.
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, would be the same under either status.
Priority
Acknowledgement is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The Examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 09/06/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Examiner has considered the reference(s) listed on the Information Disclosure Statement submitted on 09/06/2024.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “A method for communication between a user equipment and a base station” in the preamble, and the body recites “determining Sounding Reference Signal antenna ports…; dividing the antenna ports…; determining a first set of parameters…” but does not recite which particular device (i.e., a user equipment or a base station) is performed these recited claimed limitations. For clarity, it is suggested to include which particular device is performing these limitations.
Claim 2 recites acronyms such as “OFDM” in line 3. For clarity, it is suggested to spell out the specified acronyms in at least the first time it is mentioned in the claim.
In claim 3, there is an inadvertently made error by crossing out “parameters” in line 2. For clarity, it is suggested to rewrite as -- the second set of parameters --.
Appropriate corrections are required.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG et al. (US 2025/0132879 A) hereinafter “Wang” in view of Koo et al. (US 8,792,584 B2) hereinafter “Koo”.
Regarding claim 1, Wang discloses a method for communication between a user equipment and a base station, the method comprising:
determining Sounding Reference Signal antenna ports of a user equipment configured for transmission of sounding reference signals to a base station (see FIG. 7 and 15; see ¶ [0127] [0192], determining/selecting a port arrangement of the set of multiple port arrangements based on a first quantity of ports available to the UE for transmitting the one or more sounding reference signals);
dividing the antenna ports into a first group of antenna ports and a second group of antenna ports when a number of antenna ports is greater than a predefined number of antenna ports (see FIG. 7 and 15; see ¶ [0128-29] [0193-95], mapping the second quantity of ports to a first pattern of frequency resources for communicating sounding reference signals and mapping the third quantity of ports to a second pattern of frequency resources for communicating the sounding reference signals);
determining a first set of parameters associated with the first group of antenna ports and a second set of parameters associated with the second group of antenna ports, for generation and transmission of the sounding reference signals, wherein the sounding reference signals of the first group of antenna ports and the sounding reference signals of the second group of antenna ports using one of a cyclic shift (see FIG. 7 and 15; see ¶ [0131] [0194-96], the UE may select the one or more cyclic shift indices based on a rounding function applied to one or more cyclic shift parameters and the one or more cyclic shift parameters may include a quantity of ports, a quantity of sounding reference signal resource sets, an upper limit for a quantity of sounding reference signal resources sets, a port index, or any combination thereof. In some examples, transmitting the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal may be based on the selected one or more cyclic shift indices);
generating, by the user equipment, a first set of sounding reference signals using the first set of parameters and a second set of sounding reference signals using the second set of parameters (see FIG. 7 and 15; see ¶ [0131] [0194-96], the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal may be based on the selected one or more cyclic shift indices); and
transmitting, by the user equipment to the base station, the first set of sounding reference signals over the first group of antenna ports using the first set of parameters and the second set of sounding reference signals over the second group of antenna ports using the second set of parameters (see FIG. 7 and 15; see ¶ [0132-33] [0197-98], transmitting a first sounding reference signal using a second quantity of ports of the first quantity of ports based on the selected port arrangement and transmitting a second sounding reference signal using a third quantity of ports of the first quantity of ports based on the selected port arrangement).
Although Wang discloses using a cyclic shift, but does not explicitly disclose orthogonality is maintained.
However, the same analogous art, Koo discloses wherein orthogonality is maintained between the sounding reference signals of the first group of antenna ports and the sounding reference signals of the second group of antenna ports using one of a cyclic shift (see Col. 9, lines 3-29, to maintain orthogonality between the two SRS sequences even against a long delay spread, it is preferred that once a cyclic shift is determined for the first antenna, a cyclic shift different from the cyclic shift of the first antenna by a predetermined value is selected for the second antenna).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide orthogonality is maintained as taught by Koo, in the system of Wang, so that it would provide a novel method for efficiently transmitting an SRS through each antenna in a mobile wireless communication system in which a UE has a plurality of antennas (see Col. 2, lines 18-22).
Regarding claim 2, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters comprise group index, sequence index, cyclic shift of Zadoff-Chu sequences, OFDM symbol and, slot index (Wang: see ¶ [0086] [0131], The UE may further employ the use of cyclic shifts in an SRS transmission scheme. For example, the UE may transmit the SRSs using a cyclic shift for each SRS. In some examples, the use of a cyclic shift may be calculated using an equation that may include one or more parameters associated with a cyclic shift (e.g., a quantity of ports, a quantity of sounding reference signal resource sets, an upper limit for a quantity of sounding reference signal resources sets, a port index, or any combination thereof) such as Equation 1 and Koo: see Col. 8; lines 41-50, UE sequence information includes a group index, the number v of base sequences in the group, a UE-specific bandwidth, and a cyclic shift).
Regarding claim 3, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the first set of parameters are determined using a first group index and the second set of parameters are determined using a second group index (Wang: see ¶ [0086], the use of a cyclic shift may be calculated using an equation that may include one or more parameters associated with a cyclic shift (e.g., a quantity of ports, a quantity of sounding reference signal resource sets, an upper limit for a quantity of sounding reference signal resources sets, a port index, or any combination thereof) such as Equation 1 and Koo: see Col. 8; lines 41-50, UE sequence information includes a group index, the number v of base sequences in the group, a UE-specific bandwidth, and a cyclic shift).
Regarding claim 4, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the second group index is determined by addition of the first group index and a group shift provided by the base station (Wang: see ¶ [0086], the use of a cyclic shift may be calculated using an equation that may include one or more parameters associated with a cyclic shift (e.g., a quantity of ports, a quantity of sounding reference signal resource sets, an upper limit for a quantity of sounding reference signal resources sets, a port index, or any combination thereof) such as Equation 1 and Koo: see Col. 8; lines 41-50, UE sequence information includes a group index, the number v of base sequences in the group, a UE-specific bandwidth, and a cyclic shift; see Col. 7, lines 37-47, the following SRS parameters are UE-specific ones that are semi-statically determined by higher layers; SRS subframe offset).
Regarding claim 5, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the first set of parameters are determined using a first set of cyclic shifts and the second set of parameters are determined using a second set of cyclic shifts (Wang: see ¶ [0086], the use of a cyclic shift may be calculated using an equation that may include one or more parameters associated with a cyclic shift (e.g., a quantity of ports, a quantity of sounding reference signal resource sets, an upper limit for a quantity of sounding reference signal resources sets, a port index, or any combination thereof) such as Equation 1 and Koo: see Col. 8; lines 41-50, UE sequence information includes a group index, the number v of base sequences in the group, a UE-specific bandwidth, and a cyclic shift).
Regarding claim 6, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the second set of cyclic shifts are determined using the first set of cyclic shifts and an offset value of cyclic shift provided by the base station (Wang: see ¶ [0086], the use of a cyclic shift may be calculated using an equation that may include one or more parameters associated with a cyclic shift (e.g., a quantity of ports, a quantity of sounding reference signal resource sets, an upper limit for a quantity of sounding reference signal resources sets, a port index, or any combination thereof) such as Equation 1 and Koo: see Col. 8; lines 41-50, UE sequence information includes a group index, the number v of base sequences in the group, a UE-specific bandwidth, and a cyclic shift; see Col. 7, lines 37-47, the following SRS parameters are UE-specific ones that are semi-statically determined by higher layers; SRS subframe offset).
Regarding claim 7, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the first set of parameters are determined using a first set of OFDM symbols and the second set of parameters are determined using a second set of OFDM symbols (Wang: see ¶ [0053] [0085], each subframe may be further divided into a number of slots and transmit multiple SRSs to the base station in a slot; Koo: see Col. 11; lines 38-51, OFDMA symbols are allocated for SRS transmission).
Regarding claim 8, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the first set of parameters are determined using a first time slot and the second set of parameters are determined using a second time slot (Wang: see ¶ [0050], OFDM; Koo: see Col. 11; lines 38-51, OFDMA symbols/time-frequency resources are allocated for SRS transmission).
Regarding claim 9, the combined system of Wang and Koo discloses wherein the second time slot is determined by addition of the first time slot and a slot offset provided by the base station (Wang: see ¶ [0050], OFDM; Koo: see Col. 11; lines 38-51, OFDMA symbols/time-frequency resources are allocated for SRS transmission; see Col. 7, lines 37-47, the following SRS parameters are UE-specific ones that are semi-statically determined by higher layers; SRS subframe offset).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (see attached PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kim et al. (US 9,923,686 B2) teaches a user equipment transmits a first sounding reference signal through a first antenna, and transmits a second sounding reference signal through a second antenna. Resources for transmitting the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal are partially different (see Abstract).
GAO et al. (US 2024/0178969 A1) teaches a method for wireless communication includes receiving, by a network node from a wireless device, a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission over one or more SRS resources, wherein the wireless device is configured to determine the one or more SRS resources and perform the SRS transmission using one or more SRS ports in the one or more SRS resources (see Abstract).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of the action. An extension of time may be obtained under 37 CFR 1.136(a). However, in no event, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7241. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
Prosecution Insights