Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/099,399

METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Jan 28, 2025
Priority
Jul 29, 2022 — RE 10-2022-0094514 +1 more
Examiner
TAYONG, HELENE E
Art Unit
2631
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
LG Electronics Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
10m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
760 granted / 853 resolved
+27.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +15% lift
Without
With
+14.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
869
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
8.5%
-31.5% vs TC avg
§103
59.8%
+19.8% vs TC avg
§102
7.9%
-32.1% vs TC avg
§112
12.4%
-27.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 853 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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 . Specification The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it contain claim language “comprises”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b). Claim Objections Claims 1-4,7, 9-11,13-20, 22-23, 24 and 28 are objected to because of the following informalities: In claims 1, 24 and 28, define TCI. 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 claims 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. Claims14 and 17 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. (i) The wordings "the first resource indicator field", "the second resource indicator field", "the first resource set", and "the second resource set" in claim 14 have no antecedent bases of "a first resource indicator field", "a second resource indicator field", "a first resource set", and "a second resource set".) (ii) Claim 17 refers to "the first resource indicator field" and "the second resource indicator field" in claim 16. However, "a first resource indicator field" and "a second resource indicator field" are included in claim 14 instead of claim 16, and thus what is indicated by each "the" is unclear. (ii) Claim 17 recites “a first SRS resource set”, a second resource set “, “a 1st SRS resource set” and “a 2nd SRS resource set”. These are confusing and need to be clarified and consistent. 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. Claims 1, 24 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) based upon a public use or sale or other public availability of the invention. WO 2021187967 A1(see IDs) discloses a method comprising: receiving, from a base station configuration information related to an SRS from the base station; and transmitting the SRS to the base station on the basis of the configuration information, wherein: the configuration information includes information on a plurality of SRS resource sets, the usage of which has been set to antenna switching, and the configuration information includes antenna port information for the plurality of SRS resource sets; and spatial relationship information (spatial RelationInfo) (or UL-TCI state) configurations of all SRS resources in one or multiple SRS resource set configurations are all the same (See claim 1, A method for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) in a wireless communication system, the method performed by a terminal comprising: transmitting terminal capability information related to antenna switching to a base station; receiving configuration information related to SRS from the base station; and Transmitting the SRS to the base station based on the configuration information, configuration information includes information on a plurality of SRS resource sets for which usage is set by the antenna switching, The configuration information includes antenna port information for the plurality of SRS resource sets. ) With regards to claim 24, WO 2021187967 A1(see IDs) discloses A user equipment from a base station, configuration information related to a sounding reference signal (SRS), wherein the configuration information includes information on at least one SRS resource set; and transmitting, to the base station, the SRS based on the at least one SRS resource set, wherein the at least one SRS resource set includes one or more SRS resources, and wherein each SRS resource is related to one or more TCI-states or one or more spatial relation configurations. (Claim 24 relates to a terminal and have substantially the same technical features as those of claim 1, respectively see similar rejection as in claim 1 above) With regards to claim 28, WO 2021187967 A1(see IDs) discloses A base station operating in a wireless communication system, comprising: one or more transceivers; one or more processors; and one or more memories operably connectable to the one or more processors, and storing instructions of configuring the one or more processors to perform operations when being executed by the one or more processors, wherein the operations include transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information related to a sounding reference signal (SRS), wherein the configuration information includes information on at least one SRS resource set; and receiving, from the UE, the SRS based on the at least one SRS resource set, wherein the at least one SRS resource set includes one or more SRS resources, and wherein each SRS resource is related to one or more TCI-states or one or more spatial relation configurations.( see 2nd paragraph under Tec-Solution, A terminal for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) in a wireless communication system according to an additional aspect of the present disclosure includes: one or more transceivers for transmitting and receiving radio signals; and one or more processors controlling the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors are configured to: transmit terminal capability information related to antenna switching to a base station; receiving configuration information related to SRS from the base station; and transmitting the SRS to the base station based on the configuration information. The configuration information may include information on a plurality of SRS resource sets to which usage is set by antenna switching, and the configuration information may include antenna port information for the plurality of SRS resource sets ) . Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-4,7, 9, 10,11,13,15,16, 18-20 , 22-23 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: none of the prior arts cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the limitations of the claims listed above. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yoo et al (US 10848285 B2) discloses a wireless communication system, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for transmitting a sounding reference signal in a wireless communication system. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELENE E TAYONG whose telephone number is (571)270-1675. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm. 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, Hannah S Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. 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. /HELENE E TAYONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 September 4, 2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 28, 2025
Application Filed
Sep 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
89%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+14.9%)
2y 6m (~10m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 853 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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