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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/26/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 12-16 are objected to because of the following informality:
Claim 12, line 1 the recited “wherein the at least one SRS resource include” should be “wherein the at least one SRS resource includes”.
Dependent claims 13-16 are also objected to since they depend on objected claim 12.
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.
Claims 2-16 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.
Claim 2, line 2-3 recite “third parameters related to sequence”. It is not clear what
Applicant means by claiming “related to sequence”. Claims 1 and 2 do not previously claim “a sequence”, it is not clear which sequence the “third parameters related to sequence” are related to.
Dependent claims 3-9, 12-16 are also rejected since they depend on reject claim 2.
Additionally, claim 6, lines 3-4 recite “wherein some of the plurality of parameters configured based on the number of the plurality of symbols” lacks antecedent basis in the claim. Claim 6 previously claims “at least one of the first parameters is configured as a plural number based on the number of the plurality of symbols” not a “plurality of parameters”.
It is unclear which “plurality of parameters” the “the plurality of parameters” refers to.
Additionally, claim 7, lines 3-4 recite “wherein some of the plurality of parameters configured based on the number of the plurality of symbol” lacks antecedent basis in the claim. Claim 7 previously claims “at least one of the second parameters is configured as a plural number based on the number of the plurality if symbols” not a “plurality of parameters”.
It is unclear which “plurality of parameters” the “the plurality of parameters” refers to.
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 1-4, 6-7, 10, 12-14, 18, 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fukui et al. (US 2025/0317340).
With respect to claim 1, Fukui et al. disclose: receiving configuration information (refer to at least [0331], [0333]-[0334]-[0335], [0337], [0362], [0370] “The SRS resource may be configured by a higher layer parameter. For example, the higher layer parameter may be SRS-Resource…”, [0373], [0380] and related Fig. 9 and its detailed description ([0387]-[0407]), disclosing higher layer parameter/parameters used to configure a variety of SRS parameters. A terminal (e.g. Fig. 6) receives the higher layer parameter/parameters and performs SRS transmission ([0096], [0123], [0125]) according to information included in the parameters, e.g. refer to the SRS transmission of Fig. 9) related to a sounding reference signal (SRS), the configuration information including information for at least one SRS resource; and transmitting the SRS based on the at least one SRS resource (e.g. refer to SRS resource 900, also referred to as SRS resources in lines 13-16 of [0387], of Fig. 9, and the paragraphs already cited above), wherein the at least one SRS resource is associated with eight ports (lines 1-2 of [0389] number of antenna ports NSRS ap is 8, [0371]) wherein the eight ports are divided and mapped to a plurality of symbols related to the at least one SRS resource ([0401], NSRS ap /2 (or 8/2=4) mapped to a plurality of symbols (the 2 symbols of each of the first and second symbol set)), and a number of one or more ports associated with each of the plurality of symbols is the same (four ports).
With respect to claim 2, as best understood, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein i) first parameters related to frequency domain (refer to at least [0334]-[0335]discloses parameters: transmissionComb, freqDomainposition, freqDomainshift, freqHopping, alternatively refer to the [0364] the nth subcarrier set and lines 4-5 of [0383]), ii) second parameters related to time domain ([0334], [0362], [0371]-[0373] disclose parameters: starting symbol position in time domain (startPosition [0373]), nrofSymbols [0372] and optionally repletion factor [0334], [0362]), and iii) third parameters related to sequence (last sentence of [0335], [0380] e.g. sequence number and sequence ID) are configured in the at least one SRS resource.
With respect to claim 3, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein the first parameters include i) transmissionComb related to Transmission comb value, ii) freqDomainPosition related to frequency domain position, iii) freqDomainShift related to frequency domain shift, and iv) freqHopping related to frequency hopping (refer above to the rejection of claim 2 above).
With respect to claim 4, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein the second parameters include i) startPosition related to start symbol position, ii) nrofSymbols related to the number of symbols, and iii) repetitionFactor related to repetitions of the SRS (refer to the rejection of claim 2 above).
With respect to claim 6, as best understood, wherein at least one of the first parameters is configured as a plural number based on the number of the plurality of symbols ([0364] related to [0401] nth subcarrier set including multiple subcarriers (a plural number) in the ofdm symbols included in the nth ofdm symbol set (is based on the number ( 2 ) of the plurality of symbols, the pair, also [0390]) , wherein some of the plurality of parameters configured based on the number of the plurality of symbols are set to the same value.
With respect to claim 7, as best understood, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein at least one of the second parameters is configured as a plural number based on the number of the plurality of symbols (refer to the number of symbols of [0372] nrofSymbols or time domain starting position I0, is based on the number of the plurality of symbols NSRSsymb), wherein some of the plurality of parameters configured based on the number of the plurality of symbols are set to the same value.
With respect to claim 10, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein indexes of the one or more ports associated with each symbol are configured in the at least one SRS resource (at lines 24-28 of [0387] “…the SRS ports in SRS resource 900 may be indexed as pi=100+i…” and last sentence of [0385] “…the antenna port pi is any one of {1001, 1003, 1005, 1007}”).
With respect to claim 12, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein the at least one SRS resource (900 of Fig. 9 for example) includes multiple SRS resources (lines 13-14 of [0387] disclose “SRS resources” although 900 is elsewhere referred to as “SRS resource”. Additionally refer to [0331]), and the plurality of symbols include one or more symbols (plurality of symbols (2 symbols) per symbol set) that are configured based on the second parameters of each SRS resource (at least lines 1-5 of [0334], [0372]-[0373]).
With respect to claim 13, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein a position of one or more symbols configured in one of the multiple SRS resources is different from a position of one or more symbols configured in another one of the multiple SRS resources (e.g. Fig. 9, refer to the different starting time domain position of 920 and 922 and [0401]).
With respect to claim 14, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein a position of one or more symbols configured in one of the multiple SRS resources is identical to a position of one or more symbols configured in another one of the multiple SRS resources ([0331] simultaneous transmission of multiple SRS resources in different SRS resource sets).
With respect to claim 18, Fukui et al. disclose: A user equipment (UE) (terminal which performs the SRS transmission of at least Fig. 9 and refer to [0413]-[0414] and related Fig. 6, [0020]) comprising: one or more transceivers (e.g. refer to the antenna unit 11 or the RF unit 12 or block 10); one or more processors (e.g. computer of [0413]-[0414]); and one or more memories (e.g. hard disk or ROM of [0414]) operably connectable to the one or more processors ([0413]-[0414]), and storing instructions configured for the one or more processors to perform operations, based on execution by the one or more processors (as described in at least [0413]-[0414]), wherein the operations include:
receiving configuration information (refer to at least [0331], [0333]-[0334]-[0335], [0337], [0362], [0370], [0373], [0380] and related Fig. 9 and its detailed description ([0387]-[0407]), disclosing higher layer parameter/parameters used to configure a variety of SRS parameters. A terminal (e.g. Fig. 6) receives the higher layer parameter/parameters and performs SRS transmission ([0096], [0123], [0125]) according to information included in the parameters, e.g. refer to the SRS transmission of Fig. 9) related to a sounding reference signal (SRS), the configuration information including information for at least one SRS resource; and transmitting the SRS based on the at least one SRS resource (e.g. refer to SRS resource 900, also referred to as SRS resources in lines 13-16 of [0387], of Fig. 9, and the paragraphs already cited above), wherein the at least one SRS resource is associated with eight ports (lines 1-2 of [0389] number of antenna ports NSRS ap is 8, [0371]) wherein the eight ports are divided and mapped to a plurality of symbols related to the at least one SRS resource ([0401], NSRS ap /2 (or 8/2=4) mapped to a plurality of symbols (the 2 symbols of each of the first and second symbol set)), and a number of one or more ports associated with each of the plurality of symbols is the same (four ports).
With respect to claim 22, Fukui et al. disclose: A base station (base station which configures the UE which performs the SRS transmission of at least Fig. 9 and refer to [0413]-[0414] and related Fig. 5, [0019]) comprising: one or more transceivers (e.g. refer to the antenna unit 31 or the RF unit 32 or block 30); one or more processors (e.g. computer of [0413]-[0414]); and one or more memories (e.g. hard disk or ROM of [0414]) operably connectable to the one or more processors ([0413]-[0414]), and storing instructions configured for the one or more processors to perform operations, based on execution by the one or more processors (as described in at least [0413]-[0414]), wherein the operations include:
receiving configuration information (refer to at least [0331], [0333]-[0334]-[0335], [0337], [0362], [0370], [0373], [0380] and related Fig. 9 and its detailed description ([0387]-[0407], the base station configures the SRS transmission of the UE, at least [0096]), disclosing higher layer parameter/parameters used to configure a variety of SRS parameters. A terminal (e.g. Fig. 6) receives the higher layer parameter/parameters and performs SRS transmission ([0096], [0123], [0125]) according to information included in the parameters, e.g. refer to the SRS transmission of Fig. 9) related to a sounding reference signal (SRS), the configuration information including information for at least one SRS resource; and transmitting the SRS based on the at least one SRS resource (e.g. refer to SRS resource 900, also referred to as SRS resources in lines 13-16 of [0387], of Fig. 9, and the paragraphs already cited above), wherein the at least one SRS resource is associated with eight ports (lines 1-2 of [0389] number of antenna ports NSRS ap is 8, [0371]) wherein the eight ports are divided and mapped to a plurality of symbols related to the at least one SRS resource ([0401], NSRS ap /2 (or 8/2=4) mapped to a plurality of symbols (the 2 symbols of each of the first and second symbol set)), and a number of one or more ports associated with each of the plurality of symbols is the same (four ports).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukui et al. (US 2025/0317340) in view of Shi et al. (US 2024/0314775).
With respect to claim 5, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein the third parameters
include and ii) sequenceld for sequence initialization (last sentence of [0335], [0380] e.g. sequence number and ii) sequence ID).
Fukui et al. do not expressly disclose: i) groupOrSequenceHopping related to group hopping and/or sequence hopping.
In the same field of endeavor, Shi et al. disclose: i) groupOrSequenceHopping related to group hopping and/or sequence hopping ([0174] refer to the RRC signaling SRS-Resource format, on the right column refer to the “groupOrSequenceHopping” elated to group hopping and/or sequence hopping, [0171]-[0173]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Fukui et al. based on the teachings of Shi et al. regarding RRC signaling SRS resource (configuration) and include i) groupOrSequenceHopping related to group hopping and/or sequence hopping in the third parameters of Fukui et al. so that the SRS configuration information of Fukui et al. uses the RRC signaling SRS resource configuration format of [0174] which adds an 8 ports option in an existing field of SRS resource configuration, to maintain a consisted design with the SRS resource that supports 1 port, 2 ports, or 4 ports (Shi et al., [0171]-[0174]).
Claim 11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukui et al. (US 2025/0317340) in view of Rupasinghe et al. (US 2023/0033260).
With respect to claim 11, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein the at least one
SRS resource is based on an SRS resource set for ([0331] refer to the configured resource sets and refer to the “usage” parameter e.g. “beamManagement”), and the plurality of symbols are consecutive symbols that are configured in the at least one SRS resource, without configuring a guard period (Fig. 9 no guard period between the consecutive symbols exists).
Fukui et al. do not disclose: for antenna switching; without configuring a guard period for antenna switching.
In the same field of endeavor, Rupasinghe et al. disclose: for antenna switching; without configuring a guard period for antenna switching ([0260]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the SRS resource set of Fukui et al. to have antenna switching as usage (the second higher layer parameter of [0331] of Fukui et al.) as taught by Rupasinghe et al. and that usage does not require a symbol gap (guard period) between consecutive resources (symbols) and is a known and suitable usage of an SRS resource set.
12. Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukui et al. (US 2025/0317340) in view of Zheng et al. (US 2024/0372675).
With respect to claim 17, Fukui et al. disclose: wherein the plurality of symbols are two symbols (of a symbol pair of [0401]), four ports among the eight ports are mapped to a first symbol among the two symbols ([0401] 8 ports are mapped to a symbol pair (set) and 8/2=4 ports are mapped to each symbol of the symbol pair, therefore 4 ports are mapped to a first symbol and the second symbol).
Fukui et al. do not expressly disclose: and remaining four ports among the eight ports are mapped to a second symbol among the two symbols.
In the same field of endeavor, Zheng et al. disclose: and remaining four ports among eight ports are mapped to a second symbol among two symbols (e.g. refer to Fig. 3a, ports 1000, 1002, 1004, and 1006 (4 ports) are mapped to a first symbol (black box) and remaining four ports (1001, 1003, 1005, and 1007) are mapped to the second symbol) [0057], [0058], also [0035]-[0037]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to map the 8 antenna ports to each OFDM symbol set by mapping a first port group (of four ports 1000, 1002, 1004, 1006 ) to a first symbol and a second port group (of four ports 1001, 1003, 1005, 1007) as taught by Zheng et al. for the comb structure of 2 ([0059] of Zheng et al., and lines 1-5 of [0335] of Fukui et al. and [0385] and last sentence of [0371]).
Conclusion
13. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang et al. (US 2024/0259158) entire document is relevant and relates to configuration of 8-port SRS.
Wang et al. (WO 2024/036111) refer to the various SRS transmissions of Fig. 2-Fig. 9.
Contact Information
14. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SOPHIA VLAHOS whose telephone number is (571)272-5507. The examiner can normally be reached M 8:00-4:00, TWRF 8:00-2:00.
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SOPHIA VLAHOS
Examiner
Art Unit 2633
/SOPHIA VLAHOS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
08/26/2026
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