Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/858,939

SRS ENHANCEMENT TO SUPPORT MORE THAN 4 LAYER NON-CODEBOOK BASED UPLINK TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 22, 2024
Priority
Apr 28, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2022089799
Examiner
KASSA, ZEWDU A
Art Unit
2635
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
720 granted / 813 resolved
+26.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +5% lift
Without
With
+5.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
10 currently pending
Career history
827
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§103
88.9%
+48.9% vs TC avg
§102
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 813 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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. Claims 1-7, 10-11 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (US 2023/0344576) in view Harrison (US 2019/0103949). 2. As per claim 1, Lim teaches a wireless device, comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and a processor coupled to the at least one radio; wherein the processor is configured to: receive, via the at least one radio, at least one Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling from a cellular base station (Lim, ¶0011 “receiving … RRC”), wherein, the at least one RRC signaling configures at least one group of N Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resources for non-codebook, N>4, and each SRS resource is configured with one port (Lim, ¶0407 “two or more”. Furthermore, it’s well-known to use four or more SRS resources at the time of the invention for the benefit of efficient indication and usage of SRS resources -see Harrison US 2019/0103949 for example ¶0077 “eight … SRS … port”); and transmit, via the at least one radio, SRSs to the cellular base station on the configured group of SRS resources, wherein each SRS is transmitted on one SRS resource of the configured group of SRS resources (Lim, ¶0239 “transmit … SRS …”). Therefore, taking the combined teaching of Lim and Harrison as a whole, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the instant limitation for the benefit of efficient indication and usage of SRS resources. 3. Claim 14 is similarly analyzed as claim 1 for obviousness reason discussed above. 4. As per claim 2, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit, via the at least one radio, capability information to the cellular base station indicating whether the wireless device supports simultaneous transmission of multiple SRSs for non-codebook in a same symbol and/or a maximum number of supported simultaneously transmitted SRSs for non-codebook in one symbol (Lim ¶0244); and at least two SRS resources of the N SRS resources occupy a same symbol in the case where the wireless device supports simultaneous transmission of multiple SRSs for non- codebook in a same symbol (Lim ¶0244). 5. Claim 15 is similarly analyzed as claim 2 for obviousness reason discussed above. 6. As per claim 3, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 1, wherein at least two SRS resources of the N SRS resources occupy a same Physical Resource Block (PRB) (Lim, ¶0108). 7. Claim 16 is similarly analyzed as claim 3 for obviousness reason discussed above. 8. As per claim 4, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 1, wherein a first group of N SRS resources are configured in one SRS resource set used for periodic or semi-persistent SRS transmission (Lim, ¶0215-0218). 9. Claim 17 is similarly analyzed as claim 4 for obviousness reason discussed above. 10. As per claim 5, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 1, wherein a second group of N SRS resources are configured in more than one SRS resource sets used for aperiodic SRS transmission (Lim, ¶0215-0218). 11. Claim 18 is similarly analyzed as claim 5 for obviousness reason discussed above. 12. As per claim 6, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 5, wherein the N SRS resources are configured, with any combination, in said more than one SRS resource sets used for aperiodic SRS transmission; or the N SRS resources are configured evenly in said more than one SRS resource sets used for aperiodic SRS transmission (Lim, ¶0215-0218). 13. Claim 19 is similarly analyzed as claim 6 for obviousness reason discussed above. 14. As per claim 7, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 5, wherein for said more than one SRS resource sets, one or more of the following is configured: said more than one SRS resource sets are associated with a same Non-Zero Power (NZP) Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource; said more than one SRS resource sets are configured with same power control parameters; and said more than one SRS resource sets are configured with a same SRS trigger state (Lim, ¶0241). 15. Claim 20 is similarly analyzed as claim 7 for obviousness reason discussed above. 16. As per claim 10, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 5, wherein the N SRS resources configured in said more than one SRS resource sets are ordered according to identifiers of the SRS resource sets (Harrison, ¶0089). 17. As per claim 11, Lim in view of Harrison teaches the wireless device of claim 10, wherein, the processor is further configured to receive from the cellular base station, via the at least one radio, Downlink Control Information (DCI) indicating at least one SRS resource from the N SRS resources by indicating at least one identifier based on the order corresponding to the at least one SRS resource (Harrison, ¶0089), and in response to the DCI, transmit, via the at least one radio, uplink data using precoding information corresponding to the at least one SRS resource (Harrison, ¶0089). Allowable Subject Matter 18. Claims 8-9 and 12-13 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 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZEWDU A KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-5253. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5:30. 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, David Payne can be reached at 5712723024. 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. ZEWDU A. KASSA Examiner Art Unit 2637 /ZEWDU A KASSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 22, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 28, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
89%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+5.2%)
2y 4m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 813 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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