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
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)(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, 7-9, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US 2026/0101354, Park hereafter, supported by pages 88-112 of the accompanying foreign priority translation).
RE claims 1 and 5, Park discloses a method and 8-transmit (8-TX) user equipment (UE) for full power transmissions, the 8-TX UE comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions (Figure 16) that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the 8-TX UE to: transmit, to a base station (BS), an information element (IE) for reporting capability information (Paragraph 124); receive, from the BS, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configuration for configuring the 8-TX UE with a codebook-based (CB) PUSCH transmission, a full power mode 1, and one of a partial coherent codebook subset with two antenna groups, a partial coherent codebook subset with four antenna groups, and a non-coherent codebook subset (Paragraph 124); receive, from the BS, downlink control information (DCI) comprising a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicator (SRI) and an additional transmit precoder matrix indication (TPMI) for indicating an 8-port SRS resource, the additional TPMI corresponding to a precoding matrix with at least one non-zero element in each row (Paragraphs 63 and 124, and Table7); and perform, based on the PUSCH configuration and the DCI, the CB PUSCH transmission using the full power mode 1, wherein the IE comprises a first field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the full power mode 1 and one of the following fields: a second field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the partial coherent codebook subset with two antenna groups, a third field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the partial coherent codebook subset with four antenna groups, and a fourth field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the non-coherent codebook subset (Paragraph 124).
RE claims 3 and 7, Park discloses the method of claim 1 and 8-TX UE of claim 5 as set forth above. Note that Park further discloses receiving, from the BS, a first radio resource control (RRC) message indicating to the 8-TX UE to report the capability information, wherein transmitting, to the BS, the IE comprises transmitting the IE to the BS through a second RRC message wherein the PUSCH configuration is applied to a particular bandwidth part (BWP) (Paragraph 124).
RE claims 4 and 8, Park discloses the method of claim 1 and 8-TX UE of claim 5 as set forth above. Note that Park further discloses wherein the DCI comprises a DCI format 0_1 (Table 4).
RE claim 9, Park discloses a base station (BS) for managing full power transmissions, the BS comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions (Figure 15) that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the BS to: receive, from an 8-transmit (8-TX) user equipment (UE), an information element (IE) for reporting capability information(Paragraph 124); transmit, to the 8-TX UE, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configuration for configuring the 8-TX UE with a codebook-based (CB) PUSCH reception, a full power mode 1, and one of a partial coherent codebook subset with two antenna groups, a partial coherent codebook subset with four antenna groups, and a non-coherent codebook subset (Paragraph 124); transmit, to the 8-TX UE, downlink control information (DCI) comprising a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicator (SRI) and an additional transmit precoder matrix indication (TPMI) for indicating an 8-port SRS resource, the additional TPMI corresponding to a precoding matrix with at least one non-zero element in each row (Paragraphs 63 and 124, and Table7); and performing, based on the PUSCH configuration and the DCI, the CB PUSCH reception using the full power mode 1, wherein the IE comprises a first field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the full power mode 1 and one of the following fields: a second field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the partial coherent codebook subset with two antenna groups, a third field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the partial coherent codebook subset with four antenna groups, and a fourth field indicating that the 8-TX UE supports the non-coherent codebook subset (Paragraph 124).
RE claim 11, Park discloses the BS of claim 9 as set forth above. Note that Park further discloses wherein the PUSCH configuration is applied to a particular bandwidth part (BWP) (Paragraph 124).
RE claim 12, Park discloses the BS of claim 9 as set forth above. Note that Park further discloses wherein the DCI comprises a DCI format 0_1 (Table 4).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2, 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park in view of Kim (US 2024/0306037).
RE claims 2, 6 and 10, Park discloses the method of claim 1, the 8-TX UE of claim 5 and BS of claim 9 as set forth above. Park does not explicitly disclose receiving, from the BS, a first radio resource control (RRC) message indicating to the 8-TX UE to report the capability information, wherein transmitting, to the BS, the IE comprises transmitting the IE to the BS through a second RRC message.
However, Kim teaches receiving, from the BS, a first radio resource control (RRC) message indicating to the 8-TX UE to report the capability information, wherein transmitting, to the BS, the IE comprises transmitting the IE to the BS through a second RRC message (Paragraph 55 teaches: “The base station may request the capability of the terminal through an RRC message (UECapabilityEnquiry), and the terminal may indicate a terminal capability (i.e., a function supported by the terminal) supported by the terminal in an RRC message (UECapabilitylnformation) in response to the request, and report same to the base station.”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method, UE and BS of Park with the teachings of Kim since such a modification would have involved the mere application of a known technique to a piece of prior art ready for improvement.
Where a claimed improvement on a device or apparatus is no more than "the simple substitution of one known element for another or the mere application of a known technique to a piece of prior art ready for improvement," the claim is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. 103(a). Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ.2d 1509, 1518-19 (BPAI, 2007) (citing KSR v. Teleflex, 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James P Duffy whose telephone number is (571)270-7516. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday-Friday, 9am-6pm EST.
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, Huy D Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. 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.
/James P Duffy/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
Prosecution Insights