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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 12-23, and 26-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jeon et al. US 2023/0362898 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Jeon”).
As to claim 1, Jeon teaches a user equipment (UE) (¶¶254-255; figure 3), comprising:
one or more memories (¶255; figure 3);
one or more transceivers (¶¶255-257; figure 3); and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination (¶¶255-261; figure 3), configured to:
transmit, via the one or more transceivers, a first sounding reference signal (SRS) for communication purposes on a first set of one or more antenna ports of a plurality of antenna ports (¶¶15-16, 322, and 331; figure 23: transmit SRS for sounding/channel measurement/communication on a first set of antenna ports); and
transmit, via the one or more transceivers, a second SRS for sensing purposes on a second set of one or more antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports (¶¶15-16, 322, and 331; figure 23: transmit SRS for sensing on a second set of antenna ports).
As to claim 2, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to:
receive, via the one or more transceivers, a configuration of an SRS resource for communication purposes or sensing purposes, wherein the configuration includes at least an indication of the plurality of antenna ports (¶¶322, 327, and 331; figure 23: receive SRS configuration for sounding/channel measurement/communication including antenna port(s) and SRS configuration for sensing including antenna port(s)).
As to claim 3, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration further includes:
an indication that a usage of the SRS resource is for antenna switching or multiplexing (¶¶13-14, 322, 327, and 331: the configuration includes waveform, cyclic shift, frequency tones, tone spacing, directionality, and time gap based on the UE’s desired TDM pattern and/or FDM solution).
As to claim 4, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration further includes:
an indication of the first set of one or more antenna ports associated with the first SRS for communication purposes; and
an indication of the second set of one or more antenna ports associated with the second SRS for sensing purposes (¶¶13-16, 322, 327, and 331; figure 23: receive SRS configuration for sounding/channel measurement/communication including antenna port(s) and SRS configuration for sensing including antenna port(s)).
As to claim 5, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration further includes:
a configuration for a periodic, aperiodic, or semi-persistent (SP) transmission of the second SRS for sensing purposes (¶272: sensing SRS configuration includes periodicity).
As to claim 6, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration further includes:
a configuration for one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) or one or more frequencies for a transmission of the second SRS for sensing purposes (¶296: configuration includes BWP configuration specific for sensing SRS).
As to claim 7, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration is received via downlink control information (DCI), medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), or radio resource control (RRC) (¶300: NW indicates sensing resources via MAC-CE or any higher layer signaling).
As to claim 12, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration further includes:
a configuration for multiplexing of the first set of one or more antenna ports and the second set of one or more antenna ports (¶¶13-16, 237, 300, and 327: multiplex antenna configuration for joint communication and sensing).
As to claim 13, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 12, wherein at least one antenna port in the first set of one or more antenna ports and at least one antenna port in the second set of one or more antenna ports are multiplexed on a comb with different cyclic shifts (¶¶312, 317-323, 327; figures 21-22: configuration(s) for multiplexing of sensing and sounding SRS antennas includes comb structure with different cyclic shifts).
As to claim 14, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 12, wherein at least one antenna port in the first set of one or more antenna ports and at least one antenna port in the second set of one or more antenna ports are multiplexed on different combs (¶¶312, 317-323, 327; figures 21-22: configuration(s) for multiplexing of sensing and sounding SRS antennas includes different comb configurations).
As to claim 15, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2, wherein the configuration further includes:
a configuration for frequency hopping at one or more antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports (¶327: configuration includes frequency hopping pattern).
As to claim 16, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the first SRS and the second SRS have:
distinct beamforming directions;
distinct power levels; or
any combination thereof (¶¶15, 272, 292-294, 322-323, 330-334; figures 23-25: joint SRS configuration includes beamforming directions and transmission power levels for sensing and sounding respectively).
As to claim 17, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the second SRS is transmitted to perform:
a monostatic sensing operation;
a bistatic sensing operation; or
any combination thereof (¶281: NW configures resources monostatic or bi-static sensing operation).
As to claim 18, Jeon teaches a network node (¶¶245-246; figure 2), comprising:
one or more memories (¶246; figure 2);
one or more transceivers (¶¶246-249; figure 2); and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to (¶¶246-250; figure 2):
transmit, via the one or more transceivers, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration of an SRS resource for the UE to transmit a first sounding reference signal (SRS) for communication purposes on a first set of one or more antenna ports of a plurality of antenna ports and a second SRS for sensing purposes on a second set of one or more antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports, wherein the configuration includes at least an indication of the plurality of antenna ports (¶¶322, 327, and 331; figure 23: transmit SRS configuration for sounding/channel measurement/communication including antenna port(s) and SRS configuration for sensing including antenna port(s)); and
receive, via the one or more transceivers, from the UE, the first SRS (¶¶15-16, 322, and 331; figure 23: receive SRS for sounding/channel measurement/communication on a first set of antenna ports).
As to claim 19, claim 19 is rejected the same way as claim 3.
As to claim 20, claim 20 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
As to claim 21, claim 21 is rejected the same way as claim 5.
As to claim 22, claim 22 is rejected the same way as claim 6.
As to claim 23, claim 23 is rejected the same way as claim 7.
As to claim 26, claim 26 is rejected the same way as claim 12.
As to claim 27, claim 27 is rejected the same way as claim 13.
As to claim 28, claim 28 is rejected the same way as claim 14.
As to claim 29, claim 29 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
As to claim 30, claim 30 is rejected the same way as claim 18.
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(s) 8-11 and 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Manolakos et al. US 2020/0112970 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Manolakos”).
As to claim 8, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2.
Although Jeon teaches “The UE of claim 2,” Jeon does not explicitly disclose “determine whether…sensing purposes”.
However, Manolakos teaches determine whether a total number of antenna ports in the first set of antenna ports and in the second set of antenna ports exceeds a maximum number of SRS-supported antenna ports; and
assign a priority to one or more antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports for communication purposes or for sensing purposes (¶¶35-36 and 71-72: prioritize SRS resource sets based on the number of antenna ports when the number of antenna ports cannot support both SRS resource sets at the same time (i.e., exceeds a threshold)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Jeon by including “determine whether…sensing purposes” as taught by Manolakos because it provides Jeon’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of ordered resource determination and selection via prioritization (Manolakos, ¶¶35-36 and 71-72).
As to claim 9, Jeon in view of Manolakos teaches the UE of claim 8.
Manolakos further teaches wherein the priority is based on the configuration (¶¶35-36 and 71-72: configured prioritization).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Jeon in view of Manolakos by including “wherein the priority is based on the configuration” as further taught by Manolakos for the same rationale as set forth in claim 8 (Manolakos, ¶¶35-36 and 71-72).
As to claim 10, Jeon teaches the UE of claim 2.
Although Jeon teaches “The UE of claim 2,” Jeon does not explicitly disclose “the SRS…each other”.
However, Manolakos teaches the SRS resource is an SRS resource of a plurality of SRS resources, and wherein at least two SRS resources of the plurality of SRS resources are orthogonal to each other (¶34: different SRS resources include orthogonal symbols).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Jeon by including “the SRS…each other” as taught by Manolakos because it provides Jeon’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of ordered optimized SRS resource selection (Manolakos, ¶34).
As to claim 11, Jeon in view of Manolakos teaches the UE of claim 10.
Manolakos further teaches wherein the at least two SRS resources are orthogonal to each other by frequency division multiplexing (FDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), or any combination thereof (¶34: OFDM).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Jeon in view of Manolakos by including “wherein the…combination thereof” as further taught by Manolakos for the same rationale as set forth in claim 10 (Manolakos, ¶34).
As to claim 24, claim 24 is rejected the same way as claim 10.
As to claim 25, claim 25 is rejected the same way as claim 11.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN T VAN ROIE whose telephone number is (571)270-0308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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