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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application claims priority from provisional application 62962892 (filed 01/17/2020).
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 08/13/2026 has been entered.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
Claims 31-34, 36-40, and 42-52 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YU-HSIN CHENG (US 20190379506 A1, hereinafter CHENG), in view of Rahman et al. (US 20210153085 A1, hereinafter Rahman) and Yeongmoon SON (US 20190296805 A1, hereinafter SON)
Regarding claim 31,
CHENG teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising (in general, see para. 46-61 and fig. 1, 3, and 4):
receiving a first synchronization signal block (SSB) from a first remote radio head (RRH) in a serving cell (CHENG, see at least para. 50, “...The TRP information may help a UE to identify the correspondence between multiple TRPs and DL RS resources. In some implementations, the DL RS resources may be Quasi Co-Location (QCL) associated RS resources, such as Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs), CSI-RSs, and Phase-Tracking Reference Signals (PT-RSs). With the TRP information, the UE may know from which base station/TRP the transmitted DL RSs are received...”),
wherein the first SSB includes a first physical cell identity (PCI) index for identifying the first RRH and includes a first SSB identification (ID) (CHENG, see at least para. 51 along with fig. 3, “…the TRP information may include indices of DL RSs (e.g., CSI-RS indices or SSB indices) for representing the DL beams of the TRPs. In some implementations, the TRP information may include multiple TRP IDs and/or Physical Cell Identities (PCIs) which represent different TRPs. In some other implementations, the TRP information may include a TRP mapping table which contains multiple TRP indices and DL RS resource indices...”),
wherein the first PCI index and the first SSB ID are encoded in a same field of the first SSB (CHENG, see at least para. 51 along para. 57 and fig. 3, “…As discussed above, a UE may know the correspondence/relationship between a TRP and a CSI-RS resource/SSB based on the TRP information. In some implementations, if the TRP information includes (or represented as) a TRP mapping table, the number of rows in the TRP mapping table may correspond to the number of available TRPs for the UE,...”, note that “...Different DL RS resource indices in the same row may be associated with different DL RSs transmitted from the same TRP...”);
receiving a second SSB from a second RRH in the serving cell (CHENG, see at least para. 50, “...The TRP information may help a UE to identify the correspondence between multiple TRPs and DL RS resources. In some implementations, the DL RS resources may be Quasi Co-Location (QCL) associated RS resources, such as Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs), CSI-RSs, and Phase-Tracking Reference Signals (PT-RSs). With the TRP information, the UE may know from which base station/TRP the transmitted DL RSs are received...”),
wherein the second SSB includes a second PCI index for identifying the second RRH and includes a second SSB ID (CHENG, see at least para. 51 along with fig. 3, “…the TRP information may include indices of DL RSs (e.g., CSI-RS indices or SSB indices) for representing the DL beams of the TRPs. In some implementations, the TRP information may include multiple TRP IDs and/or Physical Cell Identities (PCIs) which represent different TRPs. In some other implementations, the TRP information may include a TRP mapping table which contains multiple TRP indices and DL RS resource indices...”),
wherein the second PCI index and the second SSB ID are encoded in a same field of the second SSB (CHENG, see at least para. 51 along para. 57 and fig. 3, “…As discussed above, a UE may know the correspondence/relationship between a TRP and a CSI-RS resource/SSB based on the TRP information. In some implementations, if the TRP information includes (or represented as) a TRP mapping table, the number of rows in the TRP mapping table may correspond to the number of available TRPs for the UE,...”, note that “...Different DL RS resource indices in the same row may be associated with different DL RSs transmitted from the same TRP...”, also note that fig. 3 has multiple TRPs);
CHENG does not explicitly teach
transmitting a signal quality report regarding a signal quality of the first SSB;
receiving, based at least in part on the signal quality of the first SSB, a medium access control element (MAC-CE) message that contains a plurality of resource ID fields,
wherein each resource ID field, of the plurality of resource ID fields, provides a spatial relationship for a corresponding sounding reference signal (SRS) resource,
and
wherein a first resource ID field, of the plurality of resource ID fields, includes the first PCI index and the first SSB ID;
and
configuring a downlink transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for the UE responsive to the MAC-CE message.
Rahman teaches
transmitting a signal quality report regarding a signal quality of the first SSB (Rahman, in general, see sections including para. 122 to at least para. 152 with fig. 13-14 in relation to Embodiment (1); in particular, see at least para. 122 and 131, “...For beam reporting (S2), the UE is configured to use a subset or all of the configured K reference RSs to determine N beam reports, where 1≤N≤K, where each beam report comprises a beam metric or/and a resource indicator. In one example, the beam metric is a L1-RSRP which indicates power level of a reference RS...”);
receiving, based at least in part on the signal quality of the first SSB, a medium access control element (MAC-CE) message that contains a plurality of resource ID fields (Rahman, see at least para. 142-143 and fig. 14, “...Optionally, a set of TCI states can be configured via MAC CE. Optionally, a subset of the TCI states can be activated or selected either via MAC CE...”),
and
wherein a first resource ID field, of the plurality of resource ID fields, includes the first PCI index and the first SSB ID (Rahman, see at least para. 145 and fig. 14, for a non-limiting example, “... (Ex S3-1), a TCI state includes a TCI state ID and a QCL-Info parameter, wherein the QCL-Info parameter includes the resource ID and the entity ID (e.g., cell ID) of a reference RS (from K reference RSs)...”);
and
configuring a downlink transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for the UE responsive to the MAC-CE message (Rahman, see at least para. 143 along with para. 145, “...Optionally, a set of TCI states can be configured via MAC CE. Optionally, a subset of the TCI states can be activated or selected either via MAC CE...”).
In addition to Rahman, SON teaches wherein each resource ID field, of the plurality of resource ID fields, provides a spatial relationship for a corresponding sounding reference signal (SRS) resource (SON, see at least para. 318-326 of fig. 13D, “...Resource IDi: This field contains an identifier of the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. Resource ID0 refers to the first SRS resource within the resource set, Resource ID1 to the second one and so on. If Fi is set to “0” and the first bit of this field is set to “1”, then the remainder of this field contains SSB-Index as specified in TS 38.331 [8], if Fi is set to “0” and the first bit of this field is set to “0” then the remainder this field contains SRS-ResourceId as specified in TS 38.331 [8]...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Rahman and SON into CHENG for overcoming delay in beam switching as well as to enhance the efficiency of MIMO operation when state changes (Rahman, para. 119; Son, para. 147).
Regarding claim 32, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG further teaches wherein the first SSB is a source reference signal in a quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship established by the downlink TCI state, and wherein the QCL relationship is one of QCL Type-A, QCL Type-B, QCL Type-C, and QCL Type-D. (CHENG, see at least para. 51, e.g. “…If an entry of the TRP mapping table includes multiple DL RS indices, and all of the DL RSs are Quasi Co-Located (QCL-ed) in the spatial domain (e.g. with a QCL type D or a new QCL type for multi-TRP transmission),...”)
Regarding claim 33, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG further teaches configuring a spatial relation for the UE responsive to the MAC-CE message, wherein the first SSB serves as a source reference signal for the spatial relation. (CHENG, see at least para. 106 along with para. 61, e.g. “…UE receives a MAC CE including multiple spatial relation information indicators (e.g., SSB indices or CRIs) from the BS…”)
Regarding claim 34, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG further teaches configuring an uplink TCI state for the UE responsive to the MAC-CE message, wherein the first SSB serves as a source reference signal for the uplink TCI state (CHENG, see at least para. 52 and 61, e.g. “...the BS may activate multiple TCI states at the UE through RRC signaling(s), MAC CE(s), or Downlink Control Information (DCI) for PDCCH and Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Each TCI state may contain spatial domain information...”, note that “...a BS may indicate to a UE, e.g., through a MAC CE message, that multiple UL beams for PUCCH transmission are activated...”).
Regarding claim 36, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 33.
CHENG further teaches receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message that includes a spatial relation field including a first SSB index associated with the first PCI index and a second SSB index associated with the second PCI index. (CHENG, see at least para. 121 along fig. 9 and para. 73-77, note that for one non-limiting example, para. 74-75 discloses “…the DL preemption indication may be extended from a cell level to a TRP level. In some other implementations, each serving cell may include a set of DL preemption indicators including the TRP information. In some implementations, the TRP information contained in a DL preemption indicator may include the DL RS indices (e.g., CSI-RS indices or SSB indices) that are associated with the DL beams of the TRPs...”)
Regarding claim 47, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG further teaches configuring, based at least in part on the MAC-CE message, a spatial relation between a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message and a beam on which the first SSB is received. (CHENG, see at least para. 106 along fig. 6 and fig. 5B, e.g. “…shown in FIG. 6, the field of spatial relation information indicators [S7 S6 S5 S4 S3 S2 S1 S0] of the MAC CE 602 is represented as [0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1], which means that a MAC CE 602 may activate both of the PUCCH spatial relation info#0 (which is corresponding to the bit S0) and the PUCCH spatial relation info#6 (which is corresponding to the bit S6),…”)
Regarding claim 48, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 47.
CHENG further teaches transmitting the PUCCH message using a spatial filter used to receive the first SSB. (CHENG, see at least para. 108 along fig. 6 and fig. 5B, e.g. “…the UE may choose the spatial filter for receiving the SSB#0 as the spatial filter for transmitting the PUCCH resource#10…”)
Regarding claim 49, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG does not explicitly teach wherein the signal quality of the first SSB is a reference signal received power (RSRP) value.
Rahman teaches wherein the signal quality of the first SSB is a reference signal received power (RSRP) value (Rahman, in general, see sections including para. 122 to at least para. 152 with fig. 13-14 in relation to Embodiment (1); in particular, see at least para. 122 and 131, “...For beam reporting (S2), the UE is configured to use a subset or all of the configured K reference RSs to determine N beam reports, where 1≤N≤K, where each beam report comprises a beam metric or/and a resource indicator. In one example, the beam metric is a L1-RSRP which indicates power level of a reference RS...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Rahman and SON into CHENG for overcoming delay in beam switching as well as to enhance the efficiency of MIMO operation when state changes (Rahman, para. 119; Son, para. 147).
Regarding claim 50, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG further teaches using the first SSB as a source reference signal in a beam management relationship based at least in part on the MAC-CE message. (CHENG, see at least para. 51 and 61, e.g. “...the TRP information may include indices of DL RSs (e.g., CSI-RS indices or SSB indices) for representing the DL beams of the TRPs...”, note that “...a BS may indicate to a UE, e.g., through a MAC CE message, that multiple UL beams for PUCCH transmission are activated...”).
Regarding claim 51, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON teaches claim 31.
CHENG further teaches wherein the first SSB is received as a reference signal. (CHENG, see at least para. 50, “...The TRP information may help a UE to identify the correspondence between multiple TRPs and DL RS resources. In some implementations, the DL RS resources may be Quasi Co-Location (QCL) associated RS resources, such as Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs), CSI-RSs,...”)
Regarding claims 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 52, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 47, 48, 49, 50 and 51, respectively, except each of these claims is in apparatus claim format.
To be more specific, CHENG in view of Rahman and SON also teaches a same or similar apparatus with processors and memory (CHENG, see at least fig. 18), which are well known in the art and commonly used for providing and enabling robust and reliable data communication hardware and software.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/29/2026 have been fully considered. Regarding newly added independent claims 31 and 37, since applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action, previous Office action's rejections are moot. Accordingly, corresponding dependent claims have also been rejected in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEE F LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7577. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-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, Ayman Abaza can be reached on 571-270-0422. 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.
/YEE F LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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