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 .
Claims 1, 7, 12, 17, 20, 21, 26, 27, 29 have been amended.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 17, 20-21, 23, 26-27, 29-37 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
For example, claim 1 contains “performing the partial BFR procedure using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when, based on the detection, the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed” which is not the same as “the partial beam recovery may be done via SR transmissions, for example, with beam sweeping to each TRP. In such cases, the UE may send an SR associated with the active TRP when the other TRP fails” in the specification in [0089]. Furthermore, [0089] is only mention of partial BFR.
Claims 3, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 17, 20-21, 23, 26-27, 29-37 are rejected for similar reasons.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 17, 20-21, 23, 26-27, 29-37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koskela et al. (US20210242922) in view of Cheng et al. (US20190379506 ).
Regarding claim 1, Koskela teaches A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE),
comprising: determining a beam failure detection (BFD) resource set to monitor for BFD when the UE is in a multiple transmitter receiver point (TRP) mode of operation involving at least first and second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously. In this case, the UE may need to have capability to receive from two directions (e.g. from two TRPs) at the same time using two beams (formed by, e.g., different antenna panels… Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”),
wherein: the first TRP is associated with at least a first control resource set (CORESET);the second TRP is associated with at least a second CORESET;
the BFD resource set includes BFD reference signal (BFD-RS) resources for only one of the first or second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS … Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple TRP use multiple links that perform monitoring on a per each link per CORESET bases is equivalent to a first TRP associated with a first CORESET, and a second TRP associated with a second CORESET);
and determining the BFD resource set comprises determining the BFD resource set based on a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of at least one of the first CORESET or the second CORESET ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously.. Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”);
detecting a beam failure based on monitoring of the determined resources to monitor ([0134] “Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, [0142] “determining based on the monitored failure detection resources that a beam failure has occurred”));
determining first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”),
wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”)
performing the partial BFR procedure using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when, based on the detection, the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”),
Koskela does not explicitly teach resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources, wherein performing the partial BFR procedure comprises transmitting SR transmission with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP .
Cheng teaches resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources ([0137] “the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH, (Examiner’s Note: use of PUCCH for BFR can be broadly interpreted as use of SR) , wherein performing the partial BFR procedure ([0137] “if the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #0 exceeds the threshold, while the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #10 is below the threshold, the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH”) comprises transmitting SR transmission with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP ([0150-151] “the UE may communicate with a plurality of TRPs based on the TRP information, where the TRP information may identify a correspondence between the plurality of TRPs and a plurality of DL RS resources”, [0063] “to the UL beam management mechanisms for transmitting the Scheduling Requests (SRs)”), [0124] “The BeamFailureRecoveryConfig 1102 contains a candidateBeamRSList IE which may include several SSB indices and/or CRIs for the BFR candidate beams”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple SSB is equivalent to beam sweep).
It therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time when instant application was filed, to modify Koskela’s method/apparatus by adding the teachings of Cheng in order to make a more effective method/apparatus to increase the data throughput, the beamforming gain, and the coverage
Regarding claim 12, Koskela teaches A method for wireless communications by a network entity ([0126] “The blocks in FIG. 8 are assumed to be performed by a base station such as gNB 170, e.g., under control of the beam failure module 150 at least in part”), comprising: providing signaling to a user equipment (UE) including a beam failure detection (BFD) resource set for the UE to monitor for BFD when the UE is in a multiple transmitter receiver point (TRP) mode of operation involving at least first and second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously. In this case, the UE may need to have capability to receive from two directions (e.g. from two TRPs) at the same time using two beams (formed by, e.g., different antenna panels… Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, (Examiner’s Note: TRP are part of base station),
wherein: the first TRP is associated with at least a first control resource set (CORESET);the second TRP is associated with at least a second CORESET; the BFD resource set includes BFD reference signal (BFD-RS) resources for only one of the first or second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS … Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple TRP use multiple links that perform monitoring on a per each link per CORESET bases is equivalent to a first TRP associated with a first CORESET, and a second TRP associated with a second CORESET);
and the BFD resource set depends on a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of at least one of the first CORESET or the second CORESET ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously.. Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”);
providing, to the UE, signaling indicating first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”)),
wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”)
performing the partial BFR procedure with the UE using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when all beams in the BFD resource set have failed( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”), ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0070] “That is, these reference signals correspond to downlink beams used to transmit PDCCH. Downlink beams are identified by reference signal, either SS/PBCH block index or CSI-RS resource index. SS/PBCH or SSB may be referred to using with SSB resource index or with SSB time location index. The network may configure the BFD-RS list explicitly using RRC signaling. It may also be possible to define way to indicate BFD-RS using RRC signaling to configure set of BFD-RS and activate subset of resources using MAC CE”, (Examiner’s Note: using SSB could be broadly reasonably interpreted as beam sweeping).
Koskela does not explicitly teach resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources, wherein performing the partial BFR procedure comprises receiving SR transmissions with beam sweeping at each of the first TRP and the second TRP.
Cheng teaches resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources ([0137] “the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH, (Examiner’s Note: use of PUCCH for BFR can be broadly interpreted as use of SR) , wherein performing the partial BFR procedure ([0137] “if the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #0 exceeds the threshold, while the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #10 is below the threshold, the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH”) comprises receiving SR transmissions with beam sweeping at each of the first TRP and the second TRP([0150-151] “the UE may communicate with a plurality of TRPs based on the TRP information, where the TRP information may identify a correspondence between the plurality of TRPs and a plurality of DL RS resources”, [0063] “to the UL beam management mechanisms for transmitting the Scheduling Requests (SRs)”), [0124] “The BeamFailureRecoveryConfig 1102 contains a candidateBeamRSList IE which may include several SSB indices and/or CRIs for the BFR candidate beams”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple SSB is equivalent to beam sweep).
It therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time when instant application was filed, to modify Koskela’s method/apparatus by adding the teachings of Cheng in order to make a more effective method/apparatus to increase the data throughput, the beamforming gain, and the coverage
Regarding claim 21, Koskela teaches A user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored on one or more memories and to cause the UE ([0061] “A UE is a wireless, typically mobile device that can access a wireless network. The UE 110 includes one or more processors 120, one or more memories 125, and one or more transceivers 130 interconnected through one or more buses 127”) to:
determine resources comprising a beam failure detection (BFD) resource set to monitor for BFD when the UE is in a multiple transmitter receiver point (TRP) mode of operation involving at least first and second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously. In this case, the UE may need to have capability to receive from two directions (e.g. from two TRPs) at the same time using two beams (formed by, e.g., different antenna panels… Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”),
wherein: the first TRP is associated with at least a first control resource set (CORESET);the second TRP is associated with at least a second CORESET; the BFD resource set includes BFD reference signal (BFD-RS) resources for only one of the first or second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS … Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple TRP use multiple links that perform monitoring on a per each link per CORESET bases is equivalent to a first TRP associated with a first CORESET, and a second TRP associated with a second CORESET);
and the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to determine the BFD resource set based on a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of at least one of the first CORESET or the second CORESET ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously.. Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”);
detect a beam failure based on monitoring of the determined resources to monitor ([0134] “Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, [0142] “determining based on the monitored failure detection resources that a beam failure has occurred”));
determine first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”),
wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead)
perform the partial BFR procedure using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when, based on the detection, the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead),
Koskela does not explicitly teach resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources, SR transmissions, wherein, to perform the partial BFR procedure, the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to transmit SR transmissions with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP.
Cheng teaches resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources ([0137] “the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH, (Examiner’s Note: use of PUCCH for BFR can be broadly interpreted as use of SR)”, wherein, to perform the partial BFR procedure ([0137] “if the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #0 exceeds the threshold, while the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #10 is below the threshold, the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH”), the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to transmit SR transmissions with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP ([0150-151] “the UE may communicate with a plurality of TRPs based on the TRP information, where the TRP information may identify a correspondence between the plurality of TRPs and a plurality of DL RS resources”, [0063] “to the UL beam management mechanisms for transmitting the Scheduling Requests (SRs)”), [0124] “The BeamFailureRecoveryConfig 1102 contains a candidateBeamRSList IE which may include several SSB indices and/or CRIs for the BFR candidate beams”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple SSB is equivalent to beam sweep).
It therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time when instant application was filed, to modify Koskela’s method/apparatus by adding the teachings of Cheng in order to make a more effective method/apparatus to increase the data throughput, the beamforming gain, and the coverage
Regarding claim 27, Koskela teaches A network entity, comprising: one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored on one or more memories and to cause the network entity to ([0062] “The gNB 170 includes one or more processors 152, one or more memories 155, one or more network interfaces (N/W I/F(s)) 161, and one or more transceivers 160 interconnected through one or more buses 157. [0091] “This figure further illustrates the operation of an exemplary method or methods, a result of execution of computer program instructions embodied on a computer readable memory, functions performed by logic implemented in hardware, and/or interconnected means for performing functions in accordance with exemplary embodiments”):
provide signaling to a user equipment (UE) including a beam failure detection (BFD) resource set for the UE to monitor for BFD when the UE is in a multiple transmitter receiver point (TRP) mode of operation involving at least first and second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously. In this case, the UE may need to have capability to receive from two directions (e.g. from two TRPs) at the same time using two beams (formed by, e.g., different antenna panels… Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, (Examiner’s Note: TRP are part of base station),
wherein: the first TRP is associated with at least a first control resource set (CORESET);the second TRP is associated with at least a second CORESET; the BFD resource set includes BFD reference signal (BFD-RS) resources for only one of the first or second TRPs ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS … Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple TRP use multiple links that perform monitoring on a per each link per CORESET bases is equivalent to a first TRP associated with a first CORESET, and a second TRP associated with a second CORESET);
and the BFD resource set depends on a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of at least one of the first CORESET or the second CORESET ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously.. Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”);
provide, to the UE, signaling indicating first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”), [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”),
wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”)
perform the partial BFR procedure with the UE using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when all beams in the BFD resource set have failed( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, [0128] “It is noted that a partial beam failure (less than N resources) may occur. In response to the partial beam failure occurring and one of the failure detection resources is in a failure condition, the RS in the failure condition may be removed from the failure detection resource set of q0 and the remaining N−1 downlink RSs are used as the failure detection resources instead”)
,
Koskela does not explicitly teach resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources, wherein, to perform the partial BFR procedure, the one or more processors are configured to cause the network entity to receive SR transmissions with beam sweeping at each of the first TRP and the second TRP .
Cheng teaches resource for performing the BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources ([0137] “the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH, (Examiner’s Note: use of PUCCH for BFR can be broadly interpreted as use of SR) , wherein, to perform the partial BFR procedure ([0137] “if the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #0 exceeds the threshold, while the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #10 is below the threshold, the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH”), the one or more processors are configured to cause the network entity to receive SR transmissions with beam sweeping at each of the first TRP and the second TRP ([0150-151] “the UE may communicate with a plurality of TRPs based on the TRP information, where the TRP information may identify a correspondence between the plurality of TRPs and a plurality of DL RS resources”, [0063] “to the UL beam management mechanisms for transmitting the Scheduling Requests (SRs)”), [0124] “The BeamFailureRecoveryConfig 1102 contains a candidateBeamRSList IE which may include several SSB indices and/or CRIs for the BFR candidate beams”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple SSB is equivalent to beam sweep).
It therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time when instant application was filed, to modify Koskela’s method/apparatus by adding the teachings of Cheng in order to make a more effective method/apparatus to increase the data throughput, the beamforming gain, and the coverage
Regarding claims 3, 14, 23, Koskela teaches wherein the BFD resource set comprises at least one reference signal (RS) index for each of the first and second TRPs ([0070] “Downlink beams are identified by reference signal, either SS/PBCH block index or CSI-RS resource index. SS/PBCH or SSB may be referred to using with SSB resource index or with SSB time location index. The network may configure the BFD-RS list explicitly using RRC signaling. It may also be possible to define way to indicate BFD-RS using RRC signaling to configure set of BFD-RS and activate subset of resources using MAC CE. In some embodiments it may be possible to define the set of q0 to include reference signals corresponding to PDSCH beams. Similar TCI framework may be used for PDSCH as used for PDCCH. In a similar manner, the UE may be configured explicitly with RS for radio link monitoring (e.g., cell level failure monitoring)”, [0076] “Thus, when TCI index 0 determines source RS(s) for a certain physical signal or channel, the UE can determine that the UE can set its RX beam as this beam is set for receiving the SS/PBCH block #n. Correspondingly, when TCI index 1 determines source RS(s) for a certain physical signal or channel, the UE can determine that the UE can set its RX beam as this beam is set for receiving the CSI-RS #b (of RS set #B).”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, (Examiner’s Note: transmission to UE is downlink).
Regarding claim 7, 17, 26, Koskela teaches wherein: the determined resources to monitor comprise a second BFD resource set, wherein the BFD resource set is for the first TRP, and the second BFD resource set is for the second TRP ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously.. Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”);
and the BFR procedure is performed for the first TRP if the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed; or the BFR procedure is performed for the second TRP if the UE detects that all beams in the second BFD resource set have failed ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”).
Regarding claim 8, Koskela teaches wherein the UE determines each of the BFD resource set and the second BFD resource set based on signaling from a network entity ( [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”).
Regarding claim 11, 20, Koskela teaches wherein: the first resources and the second resources for performing the BFR procedure further comprise at least one physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources ([0088]” The TCI state that was not used for failure detection may also have uplink resources (e.g., PUCCH) that can be used to indicate the beam failure.”) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources;
and the first resources for performing the BFR procedure comprise separate resources from the second resources for performing the BFR procedure ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, (Examiner’s Note: per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET. Link connects to different TRP so each TRP is configured with different CORESET and each CORESET is configured with separate resource where the failure detection resource is reused during BFR).
Regarding claim 29, Koskela teaches wherein: the signaling further indicates a second BFD resource set, wherein the BFD resource set is for the first TRP, and the second BFD resource set is for the second TRP ([0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS. In one way, the UE could be indicated using the same TCI framework that, e.g., 2 TCI states are active for PDCCH reception, which would mean that UE is served with two links simultaneously.. Thus, the UE may, based on implicit configuration, receive multiple PDCCH on multiple links and thus monitor, per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET (using methods in the description herein) or select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs. In this case, it may be determined that the UE needs to include at least one BFD-RS per CORESET for failure detection”);
the BFR procedure is triggered for the first TRP if the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed; or the BFR procedure is triggered for the second TRP if the UE detects that all beams in the second BFD resource set have failed ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”).
Regarding claim 30, Koskela teaches wherein the processor is further configured to provide signaling for the UE to determine first resources for performing the BFR procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the BFR procedure with the second TRP ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”),
wherein: each of the first resources and the second resources for performing the BFR procedure comprise at least one of scheduling request (SR), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources ([0088]” The TCI state that was not used for failure detection may also have uplink resources (e.g., PUCCH) that can be used to indicate the beam failure.”), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources;
and the first resources for performing the BFR procedure comprise separate resources from the second resources for performing the BFR procedure ( Fig. 4 “430-480”, [0134] “In one example, such case may occur when multiple TRPs (transmission-reception points) are used simultaneously to transmit PDCCH to the UE and each link is associated with own CSI-RS”, [0143-144] “sending an indication of beam failure toward a base station; and participating in a beam recovery process with the base station”, [0149] “further comprising transmitting, by the base station and toward the user equipment, an indication of reference signals to be utilized by the user equipment as beam failure detection resources”, [0088] “In block 480, the UE 110 participates (e.g., with the gNB 170) in a beam recovery process, e.g., using the candidate beam. In this case as an example, the UE may indicate as a new candidate beam the TCI state (SSB or CSI-RS) that was not used as BFD-RS due to the selection of subset of BFD-RS earlier”, (Examiner’s Note: per each link per CORESET, the failure condition. In this case, in an example, the UE may need to select the failure detection resource per CORESET. Link connects to different TRP so each TRP is configured with different CORESET and each CORESET is configured with separate resource where the failure detection resource is reused during BFR).
Regarding claim 31, Koskela teaches wherein the TCI state is associated with a random access channel (RACH) resource ([0109-110] “electing (block 632), in response to the CORESET # 0 being associated with the TCI state for PDCCH …Also, selecting at least CORESET # 0 means that the UE is performing failure detection of a robust CORESET since this is used for initial access-/contention-based RACH.
Regarding claim 32, Koskela does not explicitly teach wherein the BFR procedure comprises transmitting a scheduling request (SR) using SR resources associated with the first TRP.
Cheng teaches wherein the BFR procedure comprises transmitting a scheduling request (SR) using SR resources associated with the first TRP([0137] “the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH, (Examiner’s Note: use of PUCCH for BFR can be broadly interpreted as use of SR)
It therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time when instant application was filed, to modify Koskela’s method/apparatus by adding the teachings of Cheng in order to make a more effective method/apparatus by allowing the TCI state for a CORESET can be appropriately controlled in a beam recovery procedure for future radio communication systems.
Regarding claim 33, Koskela teaches wherein the first and second CORESETs both map to the BFD resource set ([0077] “a case where the UE has been configured with two CORESETs with one or multiple TCI state associations. For the CORESET #0, MAC-CE signaling is used to activate one TCI state at a time. See block 310, where a MAC-CE is used to activate/deactivate TCI states in case of more than one TCI state is configured per CORESET”).
Regarding claim 34, 35, 36, 37, Koskela teaches wherein the mode of multiple TRP operation comprises communicating using overlapping resource blocks (RBs) ([0134] “select the BFD-RS across all the TCI states of all configured CORESETs”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10/1/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s Argument
Applicant submits that Cheng fails to teach or suggest "determining first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP, wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources" and "performing the partial BFR procedure using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when, based on the detection, the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed, wherein performing the partial BFR procedure comprises transmitting SR transmissions with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP" as recited in claim 1 and similar features recited in claims 12, 21, and 27.
Examiner response
Examiner respectfully disagrees. See updated rejection. Newly added reference Cheng. The combination of Koskela in view of Cheng teaches determining first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP, wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each comprise at least scheduling request (SR) resources" and "performing the partial BFR procedure using at least one of the first resources or the second resources when, based on the detection, the UE detects that all beams in the BFD resource set have failed, wherein performing the partial BFR procedure comprises transmitting SR transmissions with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP" as recited in claim 1.
More specifically, Koskela teaches determining first resources for performing a partial beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure with the first TRP and second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure with the second TRP, wherein the first resources and the second resources for performing the partial BFR procedure each comprise
In regards to the SR, this is shown by Cheng in([0137] “the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH, (Examiner’s Note: use of PUCCH for BFR can be broadly interpreted as use of SR).
Cheng shows wherein performing the partial BFR procedure ([0137] “if the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #0 exceeds the threshold, while the BFI counter set for the CSI RS resource #10 is below the threshold, the UE's higher layer may trigger a partial BFR and indicate the UE's PHY layer to transmit a BFRQ by RACH or PUCCH”) comprises transmitting SR transmissions with beam sweeping to each of the first TRP and the second TRP ([0150-151] “the UE may communicate with a plurality of TRPs based on the TRP information, where the TRP information may identify a correspondence between the plurality of TRPs and a plurality of DL RS resources”, [0063] “to the UL beam management mechanisms for transmitting the Scheduling Requests (SRs)”), [0124] “The BeamFailureRecoveryConfig 1102 contains a candidateBeamRSList IE which may include several SSB indices and/or CRIs for the BFR candidate beams”, (Examiner’s Note: multiple SSB is equivalent to beam sweep).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/K.T.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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