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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because some of the texts shown in at least Figures 7 and 10-13 of the drawings are either too small or blurry. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 (line 11) and claim 9 (line 10), the phrase “a UL transmission” should be “an UL transmission”.
Claims 2-8 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1, therefore they are also objected.
Claims 10-16 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 9, therefore they are also objected.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION. The specification shall conclude with one or more clams particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 1 (line 14) and claim 9 (line 13), the phrase “the UL transmission” lacks antecedent basis. It is unclear whether it refers to the “UL transmission” recited in line 3 or line 11 of Claim 1, or in line 3 or line 10 of Claim 9.
Claim 4 depends from claim 1, and claim 12 depends from claim 9. However, the phrase “one SRS resource set” recited in line 3 of claim 4 and line 2 of claim 12 is unclear because claims 1 and 9 already recite “a first SRS resource set” and “a second SRS resource set”. See lines 10 and 11 of claim 1, and lines 9 and 10 of claim 9.
Claims 4 and 6 depend from claim 1, and claims 12 and 14 depend from claim 9. However, the phrase “a panel among the multiple panels” recited in line 2 of claim 4, line 2 or line 5 of claim 6, line 3 of claim 12, and line 2 or line 5 of claim 14 is unclear because claims 1 and 9 already recite “a first panel” and “a second panel”. See line 10 of claim 1, and line 9 of claim 9.
Claim 5 depends from claim 1, and claim 13 depends from claim 9. However, the phrases “ѵ is a number of layers …” and “ѵ layers …” recited in lines 2 and 3 of both claims 5 and 13 is unclear because claims 1 and 9 already recite “at least one layer corresponding to the first panel and at least one layer corresponding to the second panel”. See lines 12 and 13 of claim 1, and lines 11 and 12 of claim 9.
Claim 6 depends from claim 1, and claim 14 depends from claim 9. However, the phrases “a group of antenna ports” recited in lines 2-3 or line 6 of both claims 6 and 14 is unclear because claims 1 and 9 already recite “a group of antenna ports”. Clarification is required to clarify the difference. See lines 4-5 of both claims 1 and 9.
Claims 2, 3, 7, and 8 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1, therefore they are also rejected.
Claims 10, 11, 15, and 16 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 9, therefore they are also rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1-16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Shaheen et al. relates to a multi-mode capable LTE-5G new radio (NR) user equipment (UE) for receiving LTE radio resource connection (RRC) messages from an evolved node B (eNB). The UE also determines which data radio bearer (DRB) to offload to a particular 5G NR system, establishes an RRC with the 5G NR system, steers a particular DRB or DRBs to the 5G NR system, acknowledges receiving the LTE RRC message using LTE or NR connections, and updates an LTE system with a status of connections to the 5G NR system.
HAMIDI-SEPEHR et al. relates to a user equipment (UE) includes processing circuitry coupled to memory to configure the UE for multi-transmission reception point (TRP) reception, the processing circuitry is to decode radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The RRC signaling includes configuration information configuring a plurality of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states. A media access control (MAC) control element (CE) is decoded, where the MAC CE indicates multiple active TCI states of the configured plurality of TCI states. Multiple received beams are determined using the multiple active TCI states. Downlink information is decoded, where the downlink information originates from multiple TRPs and is received via the determined multiple receive beams associated with the multiple active TCI states.
Muruganathan et al. relates to systems and methods for non-codebook based multiple transmission and reception point (TRP) Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission and reception. In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication device comprises receiving a configuration of first and second Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource sets to be used for non-codebook based PUSCH transmission, receiving a configuration of first and second Non-Zero Power (NZP) Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RSs) associated with the first and SRS resource sets, respectively, receiving a request for transmitting data in PUSCH in a plurality of occasions, wherein the request comprises first and second SRS resource indicators (SRIs) associated with the first and second SRS resource sets, respectively, and transmitting first and second PUSCHs in a first and second sets of occasions according to the first and second SRIs, respectively.
Gao et al. relates to systems and methods to multi-Transmission/Reception Point (TRP) uplink transmission in a cellular communications system. In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication device comprises receiving, from a network node, a configuration of two Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource sets, a first and second SRS resource sets, each comprising one or more SRS resources, receiving, from the network node, downlink control information (DCI) that schedules a physical uplink channel transmission comprising a first part associated to a first SRS resource in the first SRS resource set and a second part associated to a second SRS resource in the second SRS resource set, wherein the first and second SRS resources are indicated in the DCI, and transmitting the physical uplink channel transmission in accordance with the DCI.
ABDELGHAFFAR et al. relates to a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one processor; a transceiver communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, from a base station configured to communicate via a plurality of antenna panels, a plurality of indicators to respectively identify the plurality of antenna panels, and transmit a plurality of sounding reference signals (SRSs) respectively to a plurality of antenna panels of the base station based on the plurality of indicators.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Young T. Tse whose telephone number is (571)272-3051. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10:30am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Young T. Tse/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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