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 .
This Office Action is in response to initial filing on 12/18/2024.
Claim 1 has been amended.
Claims 2-13 have been newly added.
Claim 1-13 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/23/2024, 07/24/2025, 10/30/2025 and 12/10/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 09/23/2024. These drawings are reviewed and accepted by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 3, 7 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 2, 3, 7 and 11 are objected to because the term “TPMI” is an acronym, which could mean different things and /or change in meaning overtime, hence it would be desirable to write out the actual words which the acronym refers to. Appropriate correction is required.
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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Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12101154. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Instant claim 1 corresponds to conflicting claim 1 except it does not require the receiving the transmission mode from a second communication node.
Regarding claim 1, the table below shows that claim 1 of the patent contains the elements of claim 1 of the instant application, and therefore, is an obvious variant thereof.
Instant Application 18/893849
Patent 12/101154
A transmission method, comprising:
determining a transmission mode of the first communication node by receiving the transmission mode from a second communication node;
determining, according to the transmission mode, a transmission power ratio;
sending a transmission according to the transmission power ratio; and
receiving scheduling information of the transmission from the second communication node,
wherein the scheduling information of the transmission is carried in physical layer signaling,
wherein the physical layer signaling comprises downlink control information (DCI),
and
wherein a number M of bits for a field of precoding information and number of layers in the physical layer signaling is determined by a maximum number of ports of a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource in an SRS resource set corresponding to the transmission.
A transmission method, comprising:
determining a transmission mode of a first communication node;
determining, according to the transmission mode, a transmission power ratio; and
sending a transmission according to the transmission power ratio, wherein the transmission mode comprises one of a first mode or a second mode, and wherein determining the transmission power ratio according to the transmission mode comprises: in response to the transmission mode being the second mode, determining, according to a power capability of a transmitted precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) of the transmission, the transmission power ratio; and in response to the transmission mode being the first mode, determining, according to a number of ports of a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource corresponding to the transmission, the transmission power ratio, the method further comprising:
receiving scheduling information of the transmission from a second communication node,
wherein the scheduling information of the transmission is carried in physical layer signaling, wherein the physical layer signaling comprises downlink control information, DCI,
and
wherein a number M of bits for a field of precoding information and number of layers in the physical layer signaling is determined by a maximum number of ports of an SRS resource in an SRS resource set corresponding to the transmission,
wherein the physical layer signaling comprises SRS information, and the SRS information is used to indicate an SRS resource in an SRS resource set of the first communication node, wherein for the first communication node, the SRS resource in the SRS resource set has following features: a number of spatial relations associated with the SRS resource in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X2; and a number of SRS resources in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X5; wherein X2 and X5 are all positive integers, and wherein a value of X5 depends on a capability of the first communication node, and a value of X2 is a predefined value.
Instant claim 2 and conflicting claim 1 correspond.
Instant claim 3 and conflicting claim 1 correspond.
Instant claim 4 and conflicting claim 4 and 5 correspond.
Instant claim 5 and conflicting claim 1 correspond.
Instant claim 6 corresponds to conflicting claim 5.
Instant claim 7 and conflicting claim 5 correspond.
Instant claim 8 and conflicting claim 5 correspond.
Instant claim 9 and conflicting claim 9 correspond except it does not require the receiving the transmission mode from a second communication node.
Instant claim 10 and conflicting claim 9 correspond.
Instant claim 11 and conflicting claim 9 correspond.
Instant claim 12 and conflicting claim 12 correspond.
Instant claim 13 and conflicting claim 9 correspond.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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 1-4, 6, 7 and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Applicant’s submission of prior art 3GPP TSG RAN WG1#97.
Regarding claim 1, RAN WG1#97 discloses a transmission method, comprising:
determining a transmission mode of a first communication node (page 3, section 2.3, Alt1, “For a UE supporting Opt. 2 or/and Opt.3, network can indicate the VE via RRC signaling of which alternative of Opt.1/2/3 is used for power control of codebook-based PUSCH transmission”) by receiving the transmission mode from a second communication node (page 3, Att1.Opt.2: “2.3: Power scaling schemes Alt1: For a UE supporting Opt.2 or/and Opt.3, network can indicate the VE via RRC signaling of which alternative of Opt.1/2/3 is used for power control of codebook-based PUSCH transmission”);
determining, according to the transmission mode, a transmission power ratio (page 5. Alt6: “For capability 2 and 3 UEs, full uplink TX power capability is implicitly derived from the TPMI/TPMI group precoders For capability 2 and 3 UEs, full power is achievable with the introduced newcodebook Subset in Alt 1;” page 3, Att1.Opt.2: “2.3: Power scaling schemes Alt1: Rel-16 UE reports its support of three options via optional capability … Opt.2: The scale factor is the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the configured number of SRS ports for codebook based PUSCH”);
sending a transmission according to the transmission power ratio (page 3, Att1.Opt.2: “2.3: Power scaling schemes Alt1: Rel-16 UE reports its support of three options via optional capability … Opt.2: The scale factor is the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the configured number of SRS ports for codebook based PUSCH”), and
receiving scheduling information of the transmission from the second communication node, wherein the scheduling information of the transmission is carried in physical layer signaling, wherein the physical layer signaling comprises downlink control information (DCI) (page 4, ll. 16-22, If the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by a DCI format 0_1),
and wherein a number M of bits for a field of precoding information and number of layers in the physical layer signaling is determined by a maximum number of ports of a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource in an SRS resource set corresponding to the transmission (page 4, ll. 16-22, If the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 and when txConfig in PUSCH-Config is set to ‘codebook,’ When altPowerScaling is not configures, the UE scales the linear value by the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the maximum number of SRS ports supported by the UE in one SRS resource).
Regarding claim 2, RAN WG1#97 discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein determining the transmission power ratio according to the transmission mode comprises:
in response to the transmission mode being the second mode, determining, according to a power capability of a TPMI of the transmission, the transmission power ratio (page 5. Alt6: “For capability 2 and 3 UEs, full uplink TX power capability is implicitly derived from the TPMI/TPMI group precoders For capability 2 and 3 UEs, full power is achievable with the introduced newcodebook Subset in Alt 1;” page 3, Att1.Opt.2: “2.3: Power scaling schemes Alt1: Rel-16 UE reports its support of three options via optional capability … Opt.2: The scale factor is the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the configured number of SRS ports for codebook based PUSCH”); or
in response to the transmission mode being the first mode, determining, according to a number of ports of an SRS resource corresponding to the transmission, the transmission power ratio (page 3, Att1.Opt.2: “2.3: Power scaling schemes Alt1: Rel-16 UE reports its support of three options via optional capability … Opt.2: The scale factor is the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the configured number of SRS ports for codebook based PUSCH”).
Regarding claim 3, RAN WG1#97 discloses the method according to claim 1, the transmission method further comprising: sending, to the second communication node, a full power capability supported by a predefined TPMI or TPMI group (page 1, 2.1: “… UE capability 2 can support full power transmission”); or sending, to the second communication node, a full power capability supported by a predefined TPMI or TPMI group corresponding to a respective number of ports. (page 1, 2.1: “… UE capability 2 can support full power transmission. Companies to check for any implementation issues and/or performance of Rel-16 full power transmission compared to Rel-15 non-coherent codebook subset uplink transmission”).
Regarding claim 4, RAN WG1#97 discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: the transmission method according to in response to the maximum rank of the first communication node being greater than the number of the ports of the SRS resource corresponding to the transmission (page 4, ll. 16-22, If the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by a DCI format 0_1; page 4, ll. 16-22, If the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 and when txConfig in PUSCH-Config is set to ‘codebook,’ When altPowerScaling is not configures, the UE scales the linear value by the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the maximum number of SRS ports supported by the UE in one SRS resource), the precoding information and the number of layers indicated by the value of the field of precoding information and number of layers in the physical layer signaling are analyzed based on the actual maximum rank, and the number of ports of the SRS resource corresponding to the transmission, wherein the actual maximum rank is equal to the number of the ports of the SRS resource corresponding to the transmission (page 4, ll. 16-22, If the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 and when txConfig in PUSCH-Config is set to ‘codebook,’ When altPowerScaling is not configured, the UE scales the linear value by the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the maximum number of SRS ports supported by the UE in one SRS resource).
Claim 6 contains subject matter similar to claim 1, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale. (Vivo-R1-1907671, page 1, 2.1: “UE capability 2 can support full power transmission”).
Claim 7 contains subject matter similar to claim 3, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 9 contains subject matter similar to claim 1, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale. (Vivo-R1-1907671, page 1, 2.1: “UE capability 2 can support full power transmission”).
Claim 10 contains subject matter similar to claim 2, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 11 contains subject matter similar to claim 3, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 12 contains subject matter similar to claim 4, and thus, is rejected under similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8 and 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 5, 8 and 13 are allowed because the closest prior art of record 3GPP TSG RAN WG1#97 discloses UE capability 2 can support full power transmission and, Alt1, For a UE supporting Opt. 2 or/and Opt.3, network can indicate the VE via RRC signaling of which alternative of Opt.1/2/3 is used for power control of codebook-based PUSCH transmission (page3, section 2.3) and “For capability 2 and 3 UEs, full uplink TX power capability is implicitly derived from the TPMI/TPMI group precoders For capability 2 and 3 UEs, full power is achievable with the introduced newcodebook Subset in Alt 1,” (page 5. Alt6); and page 3, Att1.Opt.2: “2.3: Power scaling schemes Alt1: Rel-16 UE reports its support of three options via optional capability … Opt.2: The scale factor is the ratio of the number of antenna ports with a non-zero PUSCH transmission power to the configured number of SRS ports for codebook based PUSCH.”
There is no teaching or suggestion for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of claimed invention to modify the method or system as disclosed by the prior art of record to have or render obvious specifically the features of wherein the physical layer signaling comprises SRS information, and the SRS information is used to indicate an SRS resource in an SRS resource set of the first communication node, wherein for the first communication node, the SRS resource in the SRS resource set has the following features: a number of spatial relations associated with the SRS resource in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X2; and a number of SRS resources in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X5; wherein X2 and X5 are all positive integers, and wherein a value of X2 depends on a capability of the first communication node, and a value of X5 is a predefined value (claim 5); wherein the physical layer signaling comprises SRS information, and the SRS information is used to indicate an SRS resource in an SRS resource set of the first communication node, wherein for the first communication node, the SRS resource in the SRS resource set has the following features: a number of spatial relations associated with the SRS resource in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X2; and a number of SRS resources in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X5; wherein X2 and X5 are all positive integers, and wherein a value of X2 depends on a capability of the first communication node, and a value of X5 is a predefined value. (Claim 8); and wherein the physical layer signaling comprises SRS information, and the SRS information is used to indicate an SRS resource in an SRS resource set of the first communication node, wherein for the first communication node, the SRS resource in the SRS resource set has the following features: a number of spatial relations associated with the SRS resource in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X2; and a number of SRS resources in the SRS resource set not exceeding a predefined value X5; wherein X2 and X5 are all positive integers, and wherein a value of X2 depends on a capability of the first communication node, and a value of X5 is a predefined value (Claim 13), in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) as defined by applicant.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 11700601 to Lee et al: method and an apparatus by which user equipment controls transmission power of a sidelink signal in a wireless communication system that supports a sidelink, according to various embodiments. Disclosed are a method and an apparatus by which user equipment controls transmission power of a sidelink signal in a wireless communication system that supports a sidelink.
US 20230180151 to Nadakuduti et al: provide techniques and apparatus for operating a wireless communication device pursuant to radio frequency (RF) exposure compliance.
US 20220279492 to Park et al: a method and a device for transmitting and receiving uplink data in a wireless communication system. According to the present disclosure, a UE may transmit to a base station information related to a capability of the UE and the information may include a subset including at least one transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) supported by the UE.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JULIO R PEREZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7846. The examiner can normally be reached 10Am - 6PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 5712705371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JULIO R PEREZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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