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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/4/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The RCE and amendment filed 8/4/2026 has been entered
Claims 1-2, 4-7, 9-13, 16-17, 19-22, 24-28, 31-39, and 42 are rejected.
Claims 3, 8, 14-15, 18, 23, and 29-30 are canceled.
Claims 40 and 41 are objected.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 9-11, 16-17, 19, and 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (US 2023/0069919) in view of Nagaraja (US 2018/0376351).
Regarding Claim 1, Shao teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising (Shao, Fig 2, UE 204):
memory (Shao, Fig 2, Fig 2, memory 234 of UE 204); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to (Shao, Fig 2, memory 234 and processor 236 of UE 204):
measure a reference signal from a serving transmission reception point (TRP) to determine a link quality between the UE and the serving TRP (Shao, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 702 the wireless communication devices receives at least a first reference signal, in step 704 the wireless communication device determines channel quality associated with the first reference signal);
transmit the feedback including a state transition indication based on the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP, as measured for the reference signal from the serving TRP, that falls below the threshold, wherein the feedback indicates a state transition of a transmission mode, wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP):
a switch between a single TRP operation and a multi-TRP (mTRP) operation for the wireless communication with a base station (Shao, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP),
a switch between a single sidelink state and a joint sidelink and Uu state, or
a switch between a single Uu state and the joint sidelink and Uu state; and
switch, based on a measurement of the reference signal and without additional reference signals from other TRPs, between transmission modes as indicated in the state transmission indication, wherein the UE transmits or receives the wireless communication with multiple serving TRPs in the mTRP operation (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP);
Shao does not explicitly teach the below limitation:
skip sending feedback when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is above a threshold;
However Nagaraja teaches the below limitation:
skip sending feedback when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is above a threshold (Nagaraja, paragraph 105, when a trigger event occurs (e.g., when the link gain/signal quality of the target base station falls below the threshold), the UE may transition to communicating with the target base station using one or more directional beams, as part of the transition, the UE may transmit a measurement report to the target base station, indicating that the link gain has fallen below the threshold, hence this report would not be sent if the link gain is above the threshold);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao by adding not sending feedback if the link quality is above a threshold as taught by Nagaraja. Because Shao and Nagaraja teach TRPs, and specifically Nagaraja teaches not sending feedback if the link quality is above a threshold for the benefit of the analogous art of receiver beamforming for serving and neighbor cell measurements (Nagaraja, abstract).
Regarding Claim 2, Shao and Nagaraja further teach further comprising a receiver coupled to the at least one processor (Shao Fig 2, transceiver 230 of UE 204).
Regarding Claim 4, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the feedback is based on channel state information (CSI), wherein the state transition indication comprises one or more feedback bit that indicates the feedback for the state transition of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 5, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates the switch between the single TRP operation and the mTRP operation for the wireless communication with the base station, and wherein a single feedback bit indicates, based on a first value of the single feedback bit, a first request for the state transition from the single TRP operation to the mTRP operation (Shao, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP (current TRP) to multi-TRP (current TRP and new TRP), and indicates, based on a second value of the single feedback bit, a second request for the state transition from the mTRP operation to the single TRP operation (Shao, paragraph 84, the report may contain 1 bit, where “none” means handover from multi-TRP (current TRPs) to single-TRP (better TRP)) wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
skip, after switching to the mTRP operation, sending the feedback when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is below the threshold (sending feedback when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is above a threshold (Nagaraja, paragraph 105, when a trigger event occurs (e.g., when the link gain/signal quality of the target base station falls below the threshold), the UE may transition to communicating with the target base station using one or more directional beams, as part of the transition, the UE may transmit a measurement report to the target base station, indicating that the link gain has fallen below the threshold, hence this report would not be sent if the link gain is above the threshold); and
transmit an additional feedback including an additional state transition indication with the second value of the single feedback bit in response to the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP increasing to be above the threshold (Shao, Fig. 9, paragraph 79, FIG. 9 illustrates a handover from a multi-TRP transmission to a single TRP transmission, when the wireless communication device 104 or 204 moves from point B to point C, the RSRP 902 of TRP1 gradually decreases, and the RSRP 904 of TRP2 gradually increases At this time, the difference between them is gradually increased, and the communication with the wireless communication device 104 or 204 can be completed through the TRP2 only, wireless communication device 104 or 204 can report to the wireless communication node 102 or 202 and recommend single-TRP transmission of the TRP2 to reduce unnecessary overhead).
Regarding Claim 9, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the feedback comprises channel state information (CSI), wherein the state transition indication comprises one or more feedback bits to enable the state transition of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 10, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit that corresponds to a respective state of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 11, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit or comprises a sequence of waveforms (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 16, Shao teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising (Shao, Fig 2, BS 202):
memory (Shao, Fig 2, memory 216 of BS 202); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to (Shao, Fig 2, memory 216 and processor 214 of BS 202):
transmit, via a transmission reception point (TRP) associated with the base station, a reference signal to a user equipment (UE) (Shao, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 702 the wireless communication devices receives at least a first reference signal, in step 704 the wireless communication device determines channel quality associated with the first reference signal);
receive, from the UE, feedback including a state transition indication based on a link quality between the UE and the TRP serving the UE as measured for the reference signal from the serving TRP falling below a threshold, wherein the feedback enables a state transition of a transmission mode, and wherein the state transition indicates a switch based on at least one of (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP):
a switch between a single TRP operation and a multi-TRP (mTRP) operation for the wireless communication with the base station (Shao, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP),
a switch between a single sidelink state and a joint sidelink and Uu state, or
a switch between a single Uu state and the joint sidelink and Uu state;
switch, based on a measurement on the reference signal and without additional reference signals from other TRPs, between transmission modes for the wireless communication with the UE in response to reception of the state transition indication, wherein the base station transmits or receives wireless communication with multiple serving TRPs in the mTRP operation, wherein the reception of the state transition indication triggers the switch between the transmission modes (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS); and
communicate with the UE based on the switch after the reception of the state transition indication (Shao, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP).
Shao does not explicitly teach the below limitation:
(receive, from the UE, feedback including a state transition indication based on a link quality between the UE and the TRP serving the UE as measured for the reference signal from the serving TRP falling below a threshold), wherein the feedback is not received when the link quality is above the threshold, (wherein the feedback enables a state transition of a transmission mode, and wherein the state transition indicates a switch based on at least one of):
However Nagaraja teaches the below limitation:
(receive, from the UE, feedback including a state transition indication based on a link quality between the UE and the TRP serving the UE as measured for the reference signal from the serving TRP falling below a threshold), wherein the feedback is not received when the link quality is above the threshold, (wherein the feedback enables a state transition of a transmission mode, and wherein the state transition indicates a switch based on at least one of) (Nagaraja, paragraph 105, when a trigger event occurs (e.g., when the link gain/signal quality of the target base station falls below the threshold), the UE may transition to communicating with the target base station using one or more directional beams, as part of the transition, the UE may transmit a measurement report to the target base station, indicating that the link gain has fallen below the threshold, hence this report would not be sent if the link gain is above the threshold):
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao by adding not sending feedback if the link quality is above a threshold as taught by Nagaraja. Because Shao and Nagaraja teach TRPs, and specifically Nagaraja teaches not sending feedback if the link quality is above a threshold for the benefit of the analogous art of receiver beamforming for serving and neighbor cell measurements (Nagaraja, abstract).
Regarding Claim 17, Shao and Nagaraja further teach further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Shao, Fig 2, transceiver 210 of BS 202).
Regarding Claim 19, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the feedback comprises channel state information (CSI), wherein the state transition indication comprises one or more feedback bit that indicates the feedback for the state transition of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 24, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the feedback comprises channel state information (CSI), wherein the state transition indication comprises one or more feedback bits to enable the state transition of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 25, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit that corresponds to a respective state of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 26, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit or comprises a sequence of waveforms (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Claims 6 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (US 2023/0069919) and Nagaraja (US 2018/0376351), and further in view of Chen (US 2016/0374139).
Regarding Claim 6, Shao and Nagaraja teach all the limitations of parent claim 4, but does not explicitly teach wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive a request to report a current state of the transmission mode; and
transmit an indication comprising the current state of the transmission mode in response to the request.
However Chen teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive a request to report a current state of the transmission mode (Chen, paragraph 47, the network node (e.g., gNB) may request the WD to measure and feedback downlink (DL) CSI for each TRP individually and the network node in order to decide which TRP to use for data transmission to the WD); and
transmit an indication comprising the current state of the transmission mode in response to the request (Chen, paragraph 47, the network node (e.g., gNB) may request the WD to measure and feedback downlink (DL) CSI for each TRP individually and the network node in order to decide which TRP to use for data transmission to the WD).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Nagaraja by adding requesting current state of transmission mode as taught by Chen. Because Shao, Nagaraja, and Chen teach TRPs, and specifically Chen teaches requesting current state of transmission mode for the benefit of the analogous art of mode switching (Chen, abstract).
Regarding Claim 21, Shao and Nagaraja teach all the limitations of parent claim 19, but do not explicitly teach wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
transmit, to the UE, a request to report a current state of the transmission mode; and
receive, from the UE, an indication comprising the current state of the transmission mode of the UE in response to the request.
However Chen teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
transmit, to the UE, a request to report a current state of the transmission mode (Chen, paragraph 47, the network node (e.g., gNB) may request the WD to measure and feedback downlink (DL) CSI for each TRP individually and the network node in order to decide which TRP to use for data transmission to the WD); and
receive, from the UE, an indication comprising the current state of the transmission mode of the UE in response to the request (Chen, paragraph 47, the network node (e.g., gNB) may request the WD to measure and feedback downlink (DL) CSI for each TRP individually and the network node in order to decide which TRP to use for data transmission to the WD).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Nagaraja by adding requesting current state of transmission mode as taught by Chen. Because Shao, Nagaraja, and Chen teach TRPs, and specifically Chen teaches requesting current state of transmission mode for the benefit of the analogous art of mode switching (Chen, abstract).
Claims 7 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (US 2023/0069919) and Nagaraja (US 2018/0376351), and further in view of John Wilson (US 2020/0195397).
Regarding Claim 7, Shao and Nagaraja teach all the limitations of parent claim 1, but do not explicitly teach wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted by the UE.
However John Wilson teaches wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted by the UE (John Wilson, paragraph 65, gNB may send configuration identifying configurable BWPs which can be dynamically switched between, each BWI may be configured for either single-TRP or multi-TRP operation, paragraph 67, the BWP switch (and thus the configuration of TRPs for multi-TRP operations) can be timer based, any measure of time would have a certain number of slots).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Nagaraja by adding timer based state transition as taught by John Wilson. Because Shao, Nagaraja, and John Wilson teach TRPs, and specifically John Wilson teaches timer based state transition for the benefit of the analogous art of modifying one or more TRPs (John Wilson, abstract).
Regarding Claim 22, Shao and Nagaraja teach all the limitations of parent claim 16, but does not explicitly teach wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) received by the base station.
However John Wilson teaches wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) received by the base station (John Wilson, paragraph 65, gNB may send configuration identifying configurable BWPs which can be dynamically switched between, each BWI may be configured for either single-TRP or multi-TRP operation, paragraph 67, the BWP switch (and thus the configuration of TRPs for multi-TRP operations) can be timer based, any measure of time would have a certain number of slots).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Nagaraja by adding timer based state transition as taught by John Wilson. Because Shao, Nagaraja, and John Wilson teach TRPs, and specifically John Wilson teaches timer based state transition for the benefit of the analogous art of modifying one or more TRPs (John Wilson, abstract).
Claims 12-13, 27-28, 32-34, 36-38 and 42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (US 2023/0069919) in view of Gao (US 2022/0094399).
Regarding Claim 12, Shao teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising (Shao, Fig 2, UE 204):
a memory (Shao, Fig 2, memory 234 of UE 204); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to (Shao, Fig 2, memory 234 and processor 236 of UE 204):
transmit a reference signal (Shao, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 702 the wireless communication devices receives at least a first reference signal, in step 704 the wireless communication device determines channel quality associated with the first reference signal);
receive a state transition indication based on a link quality between the UE and the TRP serving the UE hat falls below a threshold, wherein the state transition indication is not received when the link quality is above the threshold, wherein the state transition indication indicates a state transition of a transmission mode, and wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP, hence if there is not a state transition due to the channel quality being higher than a threshold then there would not be a state transition indication):
a switch between a single TRP operation and a multi-TRP (mTRP) operation for the wireless communication with the base station (Shao, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP),
a switch between a single sidelink state and a joint sidelink and Uu state, or
a switch between a single Uu state and the joint sidelink and Uu state; and
switch between transmission modes for the wireless communication with the base station in response to reception of the state transition indication (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS).
Shao does not explicitly teach the below limitations, corresponding to measuring a reference signal on an uplink rather than downlink, and then sending feedback on the downlink:
(transmit), from the UE to a transmission reception point (TRP) associated with a base station, (a reference signal);
(receive), from the TRP associated with the base station, (a state transition indication based on a link quality between the UE and the TRP serving the UE) based on the reference signal from the UE (that falls below a threshold, wherein the state transition indication is not received when the link quality is above the threshold, wherein the state transition indication indicates a state transition of a transmission mode, and wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of);
However Gao teaches the below limitations:
(transmit), from the UE to a transmission reception point (TRP) associated with a base station, (a reference signal) (Gao, paragraph 26, A CSI-RS resource is used by a WD to measure the downlink channel between each of the transmit antenna ports and each of the WD's receive antenna ports, paragraph 141, although the description may be explained in the context of a downlink (DL) channel (e.g. PDSCH), it should be understood that the principles may also be applicable to other channels such as uplink (e.g. PUSCH), hence rather than a WD (UE) measuring a CSI-RS on a downlink channel the TRP could instead measure CSI-RS on an uplink channel);
(receive), from the TRP associated with the base station, (a state transition indication if a link quality between the UE and the TRP serving the UE) based on the reference signal from the UE (falls below a threshold, wherein the state transition indication enables a state transition of a transmission mode) (Gao, paragraph 141, although the description may be explained in the context of a downlink (DL) channel (e.g. PDSCH), it should be understood that the principles may also be applicable to other channels such as uplink (e.g. PUSCH), hence since Shao teaches a UE measuring CSI-RS on a downlink channel and sending a beam change request (state transition) to a TRP, Gao teaches that the reverse is equally possible where the TRP or base station measures CSI-RS on an uplink channel and sends a state transition indication to the UE);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao by adding measuring a reference signal on an uplink rather than downlink, and then sending feedback on the downlink as taught by Gao. Because Shao and Gao teach TRPs, and specifically Gao teaches measuring a reference signal on an uplink rather than downlink, and then sending feedback on the downlink for the benefit of the analogous art of low overhead CSI feedback for multi-trp transmissions (Gao, abstract).
Regarding Claim 13, Shao and Gao further teach further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Shao, Fig 2, transceiver 230 of UE 204).
Regarding Claim 27, Shao teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising (Shao, Fig 2, BS 202):
a memory (Shao, Fig 2, memory 216 of BS 202); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to (Shao, Fig 2, memory 216 and processor 214 of BS 202):
measure a reference signal to determine a link quality between the UE and a serving transmission reception point (TRP) (Shao, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 702 the wireless communication devices receives at least a first reference signal, in step 704 the wireless communication device determines channel quality associated with the first reference signal);
skip sending a state transition indication when a link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is above a threshold (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP, hence if there is not a state transition due to the channel quality being higher than a threshold then there would not be a state transition indication);
transmit the state transition indication based on the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP that falls below the threshold, wherein the state transition indication enables a state transition of a transmission mode, wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP):
a switch between a single TRP operation and a multi-TRP (mTRP) operation for the wireless communication (Shao, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP),
a switch between a single sidelink state and a joint sidelink and Uu state, or
a switch between a single Uu state and the joint sidelink and Uu state;
switch, based on a measurement, between transmission modes as indicated in the state transition indication) (Shao, paragraph 53, given a first reference signal corresponding to the current TRP, the wireless communication device may compare the channel quality of the first RS to a corresponding threshold, the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, Fig 7, paragraph 49, in step 706 the wireless communication device transmits to the wireless communication node a report including information associated with the first RS); and
communicate with the UE based on the switch after transmission of the state transition indication (Shao, paragraph 52, with respect to the triggering event, the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, paragraph 48, TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP).
Shao does not explicitly teach the below limitations, corresponding to measuring a reference signal on an uplink rather than downlink, and then sending feedback on the downlink:
(measure a reference signal), received from a user equipment (UE), (to determine a link quality between the UE and a serving transmission reception point (TRP));
(transmit), to the UE via the serving TRP, (the state transition indication based on the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP) measured based on the reference signal from the UE (that falls below the threshold, wherein the state transition indication enables a state transition of a transmission mode, wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of):
(switch, based on a measurement) one of the reference signal from the UE, (between transmission modes as indicated in the state transition indication);
However Gao teaches the below limitations:
(measure a reference signal), received from a user equipment (UE), (to determine a link quality between the UE and a serving transmission reception point (TRP)) (Gao, paragraph 26, A CSI-RS resource is used by a WD to measure the downlink channel between each of the transmit antenna ports and each of the WD's receive antenna ports, paragraph 141, although the description may be explained in the context of a downlink (DL) channel (e.g. PDSCH), it should be understood that the principles may also be applicable to other channels such as uplink (e.g. PUSCH), hence rather than a WD (UE) measuring a CSI-RS on a downlink channel the TRP could instead measure CSI-RS on an uplink channel);
(transmit), to the UE via the serving TRP, (the state transition indication based on the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP) measured based on the reference signal from the UE (that falls below the threshold, wherein the state transition indication enables a state transition of a transmission mode, wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of) (Gao, paragraph 141, although the description may be explained in the context of a downlink (DL) channel (e.g. PDSCH), it should be understood that the principles may also be applicable to other channels such as uplink (e.g. PUSCH), hence since Shao teaches a UE measuring CSI-RS on a downlink channel and sending a beam change request (state transition) to a TRP, Gao teaches that the reverse is equally possible where the TRP or base station measures CSI-RS on an uplink channel and sends a state transition indication to the UE);
(switch, based on a measurement) one of the reference signal from the UE, (between transmission modes as indicated in the state transition indication) (Gao, paragraph 141, although the description may be explained in the context of a downlink (DL) channel (e.g. PDSCH), it should be understood that the principles may also be applicable to other channels such as uplink (e.g. PUSCH), hence since Shao teaches a UE measuring CSI-RS on a downlink channel and sending a beam change request (state transition) to a TRP, Gao teaches that the reverse is equally possible where the TRP or base station measures CSI-RS on an uplink channel and sends a state transition indication to the UE);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao by adding measuring a reference signal on an uplink rather than downlink, and then sending feedback on the downlink as taught by Gao. Because Shao and Gao teach TRPs, and specifically Gao teaches measuring a reference signal on an uplink rather than downlink, and then sending feedback on the downlink for the benefit of the analogous art of low overhead CSI feedback for multi-trp transmissions (Gao, abstract).
Regarding Claim 28, Shao and Gao further teach further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Shao, Fig 2, transceiver 210 of BS 202).
Regarding Claim 32, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises one or more feedback bits to enable the state transition of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 33, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit that corresponds to a respective state of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 34, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit or comprises a sequence of waveforms (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 36, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises one or more feedback bits to enable the state transition of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 37, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit that corresponds to a respective state of the transmission mode (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 38, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition indication comprises at least one bit or comprises a sequence of waveforms (Shao, paragraph 77, UE report format may include channel quality and 1 also 1-bit where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP).
Regarding Claim 42, Shao and Gao further teach wherein the state transition of the transmission mode indicates the switch between the single TRP operation and the mTRP operation for the wireless communication with the base station, and wherein a single feedback bit indicates, based on a first value of the single feedback bit, a first request for the state transition from the single TRP operation to the mTRP operation (Shao, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP (current TRP) to multi-TRP (current TRP and new TRP)), and indicates, based on a second value of the single feedback bit, a second request for the state transition from the mTRP operation to the single TRP operation (Shao, paragraph 84, the report may contain 1 bit, where “none” means handover from multi-TRP (current TRPs) to single-TRP (better TRP))wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive an additional state transition indication with the second value of the single feedback bit in response to the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP increasing to be above the threshold, wherein the additional state transition indication is not received until the link quality is above the threshold (Shao, Fig. 9, paragraph 79, FIG. 9 illustrates a handover from a multi-TRP transmission to a single TRP transmission, when the wireless communication device 104 or 204 moves from point B to point C, the RSRP 902 of TRP1 gradually decreases, and the RSRP 904 of TRP2 gradually increases At this time, the difference between them is gradually increased, and the communication with the wireless communication device 104 or 204 can be completed through the TRP2 only, wireless communication device 104 or 204 can report to the wireless communication node 102 or 202 and recommend single-TRP transmission of the TRP2 to reduce unnecessary overhead).
Claims 20 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (US 2023/0069919) and Nagaraja (US 2018/0376351), and further in view of Gao (US 2022/0094399).
Regarding Claim 20, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein a single feedback bit indicates a first request for the state transition between the single TRP operation and the mTRP operation (Shao, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP (current TRP) to multi-TRP (current TRP and new TRP).
Although Shao implies that there could be different modes of multi-TRP operation, where mode may mean which TRP(s) are involved in multi-TRP operation, Shao and Nagaraja do not explicitly teach wherein a plurality of feedback bits indicates a second request for the state transition between the single TRP operation and a plurality of modes of mTRP operations.
However Gao teaches wherein a plurality of feedback bits indicates a second request for the state transition between the single TRP operation and a plurality of modes of mTRP operations (Gao, Paragraph 65, NC-JT refers to MIMO data transmission over multiple TRPs, Paragraph 121, a single CSI report setting is configured for both single TRP transmission and NC-JT transmission hypotheses, for the case of three TRPs configured for the WD, the NC-JT transmission hypothesis comprises three NC-JT transmissions each from one pair of TRPs of the three TRPs, hence this would be three different hypothesis for NC-JT (mTRP) combinations which would require a multiplicity of bits, paragraph 132, CSI feedback allows the network node to perform dynamic switching between single TRP and NC-JT, paragraph 77 and others of Shao teaches that the UE makes the decision of handover between single TRP and multi-TRP and Gao teaches that there are several multi-TRPs mode to choose from in TRP handover)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Nagaraja by adding multiple modes of multi-TRP operation as taught by Gao. Because Shao, Nagaraja, and Gao teach TRPs, and specifically Gao teaches multiple modes of multi-TRP operation for the benefit of the analogous art of low overhead CSI feedback for multi-trp transmissions (Gao, abstract).
Regarding Claim 39, Shao and Nagaraja further teach wherein the feedback includes bits that indicate between:
a first switch between the single TRP operation and a mTRP operation for the wireless communication with the base station (Shao, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP (current TRP) to multi-TRP (current TRP and new TRP)),
a second switch between the single TRP operation and a mTRP operation for the wireless communication with the base station (Shao, paragraph 77, with respect to the UE report format or content there is a 1-bit field where a value of “1” means handover from single-TRP (current TRP) to multi-TRP (current TRP and new TRP)),
a third switch between the mTRP operation and the single TRP operation for the wireless communication with the base station (Shao, paragraph 84, the report may contain 1 bit, where “none” means handover from multi-TRP (current TRPs) to single-TRP (better TRP)), and
a fourth switch between the mTRP operation and the single TRP operation for the wireless communication with the base station (Shao, paragraph 84, the report may contain 1 bit, where “none” means handover from multi-TRP (current TRPs) to single-TRP (better TRP)).
Although Shao implies that there could be different modes of multi-TRP operation, where mode may mean which TRP(s) are involved in multi-TRP operation, Shao and Nagaraja do not explicitly teach wherein a plurality of feedback bits indicates a second request for the state transition between the single TRP operation and a plurality of modes of mTRP operations.
However Gao teaches wherein a plurality of feedback bits indicates a second request for the state transition between the single TRP operation and a plurality of modes of mTRP operations (Gao, Paragraph 65, NC-JT refers to MIMO data transmission over multiple TRPs, Paragraph 121, a single CSI report setting is configured for both single TRP transmission and NC-JT transmission hypotheses, for the case of three TRPs configured for the WD, the NC-JT transmission hypothesis comprises three NC-JT transmissions each from one pair of TRPs of the three TRPs, hence this would be three different hypothesis for NC-JT (mTRP) combinations which would require a multiplicity of bits, paragraph 132, CSI feedback allows the network node to perform dynamic switching between single TRP and NC-JT, paragraph 77 and others of Shao teaches that the UE makes the decision of handover between single TRP and multi-TRP and Gao teaches that there are several multi-TRPs mode to choose from in TRP handover)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Nagaraja by adding multiple modes of multi-TRP operation as taught by Gao. Because Shao, Nagaraja, and Gao teach TRPs, and specifically Gao teaches multiple modes of multi-TRP operation for the benefit of the analogous art of low overhead CSI feedback for multi-trp transmissions (Gao, abstract).
Claims 31 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Shao (US 2023/0069919) and Gao (US 2022/0094399), and further in view of John Wilson (US 2020/0195397).
Regarding Claim 31, Shao and Gao teach all the limitations of parent claim 12, but do not explicitly teach wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted by the UE.
However John Wilson teaches wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted by the UE (John Wilson, paragraph 65, gNB may send configuration identifying configurable BWPs which can be dynamically switched between, each BWI may be configured for either single-TRP or multi-TRP operation, paragraph 67, the BWP switch (and thus the configuration of TRPs for multi-TRP operations) can be timer based, any measure of time would have a certain number of slots).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Gao by adding timer based state transition as taught by John Wilson. Because Shao, Gao, and John Wilson teach TRPs, and specifically John Wilson teaches timer based state transition for the benefit of the analogous art of modifying one or more TRPs (John Wilson, abstract).
Regarding Claim 35, Shao and Gao teach all the limitations of parent claim 27, but do not explicitly teach wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted by the UE.
However John Wilson teaches wherein the state transition of the transmission mode is a first state transition and a second state transition after the first state transition is based on a timer, wherein the second state transition occurs upon expiration of the timer, wherein the timer is based on at least one of a number of slots, a number of transmissions, or a number of acknowledgement (ACK)/negative acknowledgement (NACK) transmitted by the UE (John Wilson, paragraph 65, gNB may send configuration identifying configurable BWPs which can be dynamically switched between, each BWI may be configured for either single-TRP or multi-TRP operation, paragraph 67, the BWP switch (and thus the configuration of TRPs for multi-TRP operations) can be timer based, any measure of time would have a certain number of slots).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shao and Gao by adding timer based state transition as taught by John Wilson. Because Shao, Gao, and John Wilson teach TRPs, and specifically John Wilson teaches timer based state transition for the benefit of the analogous art of modifying one or more TRPs (John Wilson, abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 40 and 41 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for objected the claim(s):
In interpreting the claim(s), in light of the specification and Applicant arguments, the examiner finds the claimed invention to be patentably distinct from the prior art(s) of record.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reason(s) for objecting to the claim(s) to be allowed:
He (US 2019/0254110) teaches in paragraph 220 the simultaneous transmission of sidelink and uplink transmission, hence joint sidelink and Uu, but it does not explicitly teach state transitions between singular Uu or sidelink to joint sidelink / UU. He teaching the simultaneous transmission of sidelink and uplink could be a design choice up front rather than having state transitions between singular Uu or sidelink and joint Uu/sidelink. He further does not teach a bit to trigger these state transitions between singular Uu or sidelink and joint Uu/sidelink.
Response to Arguments
Regarding independent claims 1 and 16, Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but are respectfully moot as new grounds of rejection are used. Please see updated rejection.
Regarding independent claims 12 and 27, Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered but are respectfully not persuasive. Applicant states that the arguments for claim 1 (and 16) are similar to claims 12 and 27, so Examiner will address those arguments as well as how independent claims 12 and 27 are different from claims 1 and 16.
Applicant argues that claims 1 (and 16) do not teach skipping sending feedback when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is above a threshold (Remarks, page 14 paragraph 1). Claims 12 and 27 recite instead skipping sending the state transition indication as opposed to the feedback. As mentioned, new grounds of rejection are used for claims 1 and 16, whereas the same grounds of rejection are used for claims 12 and 27. Paragraph 77 of Shao teaches that the UE report format may contain a bit where the value of 1 would indicate handover from single-TRP to multi-TRP. The claim language of claims 12 and 27 just recite skipping sending the state transition indication, but does not preclude other feedback being sent. Hence in Shao feedback is sent (UE report), but if the bit is not set then the state transition from s-TRP to m-TRP does not occur and therefore the state transition is not transmitted (is skipped).
Applicant further seems to argue that Shao does not teach the state transition when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is below a threshold, whereas no state transition when the link quality between the UE and the serving TRP is above a threshold (Remarks page 14 paragraph 1). However Shao teaches in paragraph 48 that TRP handover can be defined as switching from single TRP to multi-TRP, in paragraph 53 that the triggering event can be the channel quality of the first reference signal being lower than or equal to a threshold, in paragraph 52 that the handover procedure can be triggered/initiated at the wireless communication device responsive to a detected channel quality condition, and in Fig 7, paragraph 49, that in step 706 that UE transmits to the wireless communication node a report.
Applicant argues that Shao does not teach “the state transition of the transmission mode indicates a switch based on at least one of : a switch between a single TRP operation and a multi-TRP (mTRP) operation for the wireless communication with a base station, a switch between a single sidelink state and a joint sidelink and Uu state, or a switch between a single Uu state and the joint sidelink and Uu state”. As mentioned above, Shao does teach a state indication between single TRP and multi TRP. The claim language only requires “at least one of” the 3 state indications listed separated by an “or”. Shao teaches the state transition between s-TRP and m-TRP, and the other two state transitions are not necessary as per the claim language of “at least one of” and “or”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAD N DEFAUW whose telephone number is (571)272-6905. The examiner can normally be reached on the first Thursday and Friday of the bi-week, and the second Monday and Tuesday of the bi-week.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached on (571) 270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T.N.D/ Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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