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 § 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 1-5, 7-8, 10, 25-28 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sakhnini (2025/0233707).
Regarding claim 10, Sakhnini discloses a User Equipment, UE, comprising: a communication interface comprising a transmitter and a receiver; and processing circuitry associated with the communication interface (See figs. 7 A-B, 8-9), the processing circuitry configured to cause the UE to perform any one or more of: receiving, from a network node (i.e. TRP-1), information that configures the UE with a first Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, resource or resource set with a first SRS sequence and a first set of power control parameters and a second SRS resource or resource set with a second SRS sequence and a second set of power control parameters, wherein the first SRS resource or resource set and the second SRS resource or resource set are associated with a same set of antenna ports of the UE (i.e. antennas/antenna ports of the same UE) (See figs. 6 A-C, 8-9, steps 906, 908 a-N and par [0116-0118, 0136-0139, 0143-0144]); in response to a trigger or request to transmit SRS associated to one of or both the first SRS resource or resource set and the second SRS resource or resource set (See fig. 9, step 910 and par [0145]): determining, based on the first set of power control parameters, a first uplink power level for transmitting a first SRS using the first SRS resource or resource set with the first SRS sequence; transmitting, at a first time instant(s), the first SRS using the first SRS resource or resource set with the first SRS sequence at the first uplink power level (See figs. 5 A-B, 7 A-B, 9, step 912 and par [0044, 0128-0134, 0146]); determining, based on the second set of power control parameters, a second uplink power level for transmitting a second SRS using the second SRS resource or resource set with the second SRS sequence; and transmitting, at a second time instant(s) that is different than the first time instant, the second SRS using the second SRS resource or resource set with the second SRS sequence at the second uplink power level, wherein the first time instant(s) is in a first time slot and the second time instant(s) is in a second time slot wherein the first time slot and the second time slot are not a same time slot (See figs. 5 A-B, 7 A-B, 9, step 912 and par [0044, 0128-0134, 0146]).
Claim 1 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 10, as method.
Regarding claim 30, Sakhnini discloses a network node (TRP-1) for a cellular communications system (See figs. 7 A-B, 8-9), the network node comprising processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to: transmit, to a User Equipment, UE, information that configures the UE with a first Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, resource or resource set with a first SRS sequence and a first set of power control parameters and a second SRS resource or resource set with a second SRS sequence and a second set of power control parameters, wherein: the first SRS resource or resource set and the second SRS resource or resource set are associated with a same set of antenna ports of the UE (i.e. antennas/antenna ports of the same UE) (See figs. 6 A-C, 8-9, steps 906, 908 a-N and par [0116-0118, 0136-0139, 0143-0144]); and the first SRS resource or resource set and the second SRS resource or resource set are scheduled to be transmitted in different time instants (See figs. 5 A-B, 7 A-B, 9, step 912 and par [0044, 0128-0134, 0146]).
Claim 25 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 30, as method.
Regarding claims 2 and 26, Sakhnini discloses as cited in claims 1 and 25. Sakhnini further discloses the first time instant(s) is a first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, symbol(s) and the second time instant(s) is a second OFDM symbol(s) wherein the first OFDM symbol(s) and the second OFDM symbol(s) are not the same OFDM symbol(s) (See figs. 5 A-B, 7B and par [0112]).
Regarding claims 3 and 27, Sakhnini discloses as cited in claims 1 and 25. Sakhnini further discloses the first time instant(s) is in a first time slot and the second time instant(s) is in a second time slot wherein the first time slot and the second time slot are not a same time slot (See figs. 5 A-B, 7 A-B, 9, step 912 and par [0044, 0128-0134, 0146]).
Regarding claims 4-5 and 28, Sakhnini discloses as cited in claims 1 and 25. Sakhnini further discloses the first SRS resource or resource set and the second SRS resource or resource set are configured for downlink channel state information, CSI, acquisition (See par [0049) with a higher layer parameter ‘usage” set as ‘antenna switching’ (i.e. transmission comb structure) (See figs. 5 A-B, 7A and par [0049, 0113]).
Regarding claim 7, Sakhnini discloses as cited in 1. Sakhnini further discloses the first SRS resource or resource set and the second SRS resource or resource set are one of periodic, semi-persistent, and aperiodic (See figs. 6 A-C).
Regarding claim 8, Sakhnini discloses as cited in 1. Sakhnini further discloses the request is signaled in downlink control information, DCI (See fig. 9, step 910 and par [0049, 0145]).
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 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakhnini (2025/0233707).
Regarding claim 6, Sakhnini discloses as cited in claim 1. However, Sakhnini does not explicitly mention that the first set of power control parameters comprise a first pathloss Reference Signal, RS, and the second set of power control parameters comprise a second pathloss Reference Signal, RS. Since Sakhnini does suggest that the first and second set of power control parameters are closed-loop TPC commands, wherein it is widely known the art that the closed-loop TPC commands are applied after pathloss compensation to fine-tune the transmit power; therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to have included pathloss in the first and second set of power control parameters, for the advantage of allowing the UE to fine-tune its transmission powers in order to reducing interference.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See PTO-892 for a listing of cited prior arts of record.
Conclusion
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/TUAN A TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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