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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/17/25 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-18, 21,22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (U.S. Pub No. 2021/0167839 A1) in view of Matsumura et al. (U.S. Pub No. 2021/0282168 A1)
1, Zhang teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages [par 0141, The communications system 200 includes a network device 210, a network device 220, and a terminal device 230. The network device 210 is a network device responsible for RRC communication with the terminal device 230 during initial access of the terminal device 230. The network device 220 is added during RRC],
Zhang fail to show comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell, triggering a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set, triggering a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set, initiating a random access procedure on the cell in response based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered.
In an analogous art Matsumura show comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell [par 0030, 0035, 0037, When the Radio Link Failure (RLF) occurs, reconnection with a cell needs to be established. The reference signal measured in step S101 may be referred to as a Beam Failure Detection Reference Signal (BFD-RS: Beam Failure Detection RS). When a given condition is satisfied, the user terminal (UE) detects a beam failure. When, for example, Block Error Rates (BLER) of all of configured Beam Failure Detection Reference Signals (BFD-RSs) (BFD-RS resource configurations) are less than a threshold, the user terminal may detect an occurrence of a beam failure],
triggering a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set, triggering a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set, initiating a random access procedure on the cell in response based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered [par 0054, 0113, 0132, A signal (e.g., preamble) transmitted from the user terminal (UE) during the random access procedure may be assumed as a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ).
The Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure may place a limitation to associate a beam failure detection Reference Signal (RS) configuration with only one panel or one TRP in the multi-panel transmission scenario and the multi-TRP transmission scenario. When concurrently detecting beam failures or link failures at two Transmission Reception Points (TRPs), the user terminal (UE) transmits a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) according to Rel. 15 to the serving TRP via a PRACH resource. An RRC configuration according to Rel. 15 needs to be retained on the PRACH resource for the Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ)].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zhang and Matsumura because to provide a user terminal that can appropriately perform a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure even when performing communication by using a plurality of transmission points in a future radio communication system. [Matsumura par 0007]
2, Zhang and Matsumura disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the first BFD RS corresponds to a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and the second BFD RS corresponds to a second TRP[Zhang, par 0146, a base station of a special cell (special cell, SpCell), a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), or a base Station of a secondary cell/secondary serving cell (secondary cell/secondary serving cell, SCell), and the second network device may be a base station of an SCell or a TRP. Alternatively, the network device 210 may be a TRP or a base station of an SCell, and the network device 220 may be a TRP or a base station of a PCell, a PSCell, an SpCell, or an SCell].
3, Zhang and Matsumura provide the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration parameters further indicate: a first control resource set (coreset) group associated with the first BFD RS set; and a second coreset group associated with the second BED RS set [Zhang, par 0223, in an example, the terminal device may detect a PDCCH in a search space set associated with a resource such as a CORESET ID 1, aCORESET ID 2 ora CORESET ID 3, and may detect a same PDCCH or different PDCCHs on different time- frequency resources. Therefore, in this example, the first indication information may be sent by using the QCL assumption information of a control resource set with a smallest index value or identifier in the control resource sets]
4, Zhang and Matsumura demonstrate the method of claim 1, Zhang fail to show wherein the initiating the random access procedure is further based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure failing.
In an analogous art Matsumura show wherein the initiating the random access procedure is further based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure failing[par 0054, 0113, 0132, A signal (e.g., preamble) transmitted from the user terminal (UE) during the random access procedure may be assumed as a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ). The Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure may place a limitation to associate a beam failure detection Reference Signal (RS) configuration with only one panel or one TRP in the multi-panel transmission scenario and the multi-TRP transmission scenario. When concurrently detecting beam failures or link failures at two Transmission Reception Points (TRPs), the user terminal (UE) transmits a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) according to Rel. 15 to the serving TRP via a PRACH resource. An RRC configuration according to Rel. 15 needs to be retained on the PRACH resource for the Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ)].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zhang and Matsumura because to provide a user terminal that can appropriately perform a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure even when performing communication by using a plurality of transmission points in a future radio communication system. [Matsumura par 0007]
5. Zhang and Matsumura disclose the method of claim 4, further comprising: determining the first BFR procedure failed based on a signal power of the first BFD RS set; and determining the second BFR procedure failed based on a signal power of the second BFD RS set [Zhang par 0159, In addition, a reference signal used to detect a link failure may also be implicitly indicated, and a reference signal associated with a TCI indicating a PDCCH is used as the reference signal used to detect the link failure. The reference Signal is a reference signal that meets a QCL relationship with a DMRS on the PDCCH and that is periodically sent. An RS in a beam failure detection RS set and a demodulation reference signal on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH meet a QCL relationship or use a same TCI state as the PDCCH. When channel quality information (for example, reference signal received power (reference signal receiving power, RSFAP)],
6, Zhang and Matsumura disclose the method of claim 5, further comprising determining the first BFR procedure failed further based on a first beam failure indication counter [Zhang par 0203, /n an optional embodiment, in a link failure recovery process, the terminal device maintains a beam failure recovery timer or counter, to stop the link failure recovery process in a timely manner. The beam failure recovery timer is used to control a link failure recovery time, and the beam failure recovery counter is used to control a quantity of link failure recovery requests].
7. Zhang and Matsumura provide the method of claim 5, further comprising determining the second BFR procedure failed further based on a second beam failure indication counter [Zhang, par 0241, the link failure recovery request information of the first cell within a time specified by a link failure recovery timer and/or a quantity of times specified by a link failure recovery counter, and reliability of a receive beam on which the link failure recovery response information of the first cell can be received or reliability of the information about the spatial relation parameter may be better. Therefore, the first indication information is sent by using the spatial relation information of the channel that carries the link failure recovery response information of the first cell, so that a probability that the network device receives the first indication information can be increased].
8, Zhang and Matsumura creates the method of claim 1, wherein initiating the random access procedure comprises selecting a random access channel (RACH) resource based on one of the first BFD RS set or the second BFD RS set [Zhang par 0263, When the terminal device determines that a beam failure occurs in the first cell, the terminal device searches the CSI-RS 2 to the CSI-RS 16 for a downlink reference signal whose channel quality is greater than a preset threshold, and sends beam failure recovery request information of the first cell on a PRACH resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal. In this case, the network device knows that the beam failure occurs in the first cell, and knows that a new downlink beam recommended by the terminal device is the downlink reference signal associated with the PRACH resource. When the terminal determines that a beam failure occurs in a i.sup.th cell, the terminal device sends the first indication information for a i.sup.th cell on a PRACH resource (namely, a PRACH resource associated with a CSI-RS 1 resource) corresponding to a serving beam of the first cell].
9. Zhang and Matsumura convey the method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting a physical RACH (PRACH) transmission via the RACH resource [Zhang par 0030, the first uplink resource is a PRACH resource that is in the first uplink resource set and that is associated with a first reference signal, the first reference signal is a reference signal associated with active QCL assumption information or spatial relation information of the first cell, and the first uplink resource set is a set of configured resources used to send the link failure recovery request information of the first cell].
10. Zhang and Matsumura reveal the method of claim 1, wherein the cell is one of a primary cell or a secondary primary cell [Zhang par 0146, In this embodiment of this application, the network device 210 may be a base station of a primary cell/primary serving cell (primary cell/primary serving cell, PCell), a base station of a primary secondary cell (primary secondary cell, PSCell), a base station of a special cell (special cell, SpCell)].
11, Zhang teaches a wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors [par 0105, The storage unit is configured to be coupled to a configuration unit and the sending unit, and the storage unit stores a program instruction and data that are necessary for the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may further include a processor, a transceiver, a memory, and the like, to perform the functions of the sending unit, the receiving unit, and the storage unit|,
cause the wireless device to: receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages[par 0141, The communications system 200 includes a network device 210, a network device 220, and a terminal device 230. The network device 210 is a network device responsible for RRC communication with the terminal device 230 during initial access of the terminal device 230. The network device 220 is added during RRC]
Zhang fail to show comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell; and a second BFD RS set of the cell; trigger a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set, trigger a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set, and initiate a random access procedure on the cell in response to on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered.
In an analogous art Matsumura show comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell; and a second BFD RS set of the cell [par 0069, 0142, a Transmission Point (TP) may be read as a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a panel or a cell. A new candidate beam detection reference signal RS 1 transmitted from the TRP 1 may be a PRACH 1 for a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) transmitted from the TRP 1. The new candidate beam detection reference signal RS 2 transmitted from the TRP 2 may be the PRACH 2 for a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) transmitted from the TRP 2],
triggering a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set, triggering a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set, initiating a random access procedure on the cell in response based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered [par 0054, 0113, 0132, A signal (e.g., preamble) transmitted from the user terminal (UE) during the random access procedure may be assumed as a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ).
The Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure may place a limitation to associate a beam failure detection Reference Signal (RS) configuration with only one panel or one TRP in the multi-panel transmission scenario and the multi-TRP transmission scenario. When concurrently detecting beam failures or link failures at two Transmission Reception Points (TRPs), the user terminal (UE) transmits a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) according to Rel. 15 to the serving TRP via a PRACH resource. An RRC configuration according to Rel. 15 needs to be retained on the PRACH resource for the Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ)].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zhang and Matsumura because to provide a user terminal that can appropriately perform a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure even when performing communication by using a plurality of transmission points in a future radio communication system. [Matsumura par 0007]
12, Zhang and Matsumura disclose the wireless device of claim 11, wherein the first BFD RS corresponds to a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and the second BFD RS corresponds to a second TRP[Zhang, par 0146, a base station of a special cell (special cell, SpCell), a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), or a base station of a secondary cell/secondary serving cell (secondary cell/secondary serving cell, SCell), and the second network device may be a base station of an SCell or a TRP. Alternatively, the network device 210 may be a TRP or a base station of an SCell, and the network device 220 may be a TRP or a base station of a PCell, a PSCell, an SpCell, or an SCell].
13. Zhang and Matsumura provide the wireless device of claim 11, wherein the configuration parameters further indicate: a first control resource set (coreset) group associated with the first BFD RS set; and a second coreset group associated with the second BFD RS set[Zhang par 0223, in an example, the terminal device may detect a PDCCH in a search space set associated with a resource such as a CORESETID 1, a CORESETID 2 ora CORESET ID 3, and may detect a same PDCCH or different PDCCHs on different time- frequency resources. Therefore, in this example, the first indication information may be sent by using the QCL assumption information of a control resource set with a smallest index value or identifier in the control resource sets]
14, Zhang and Matsumura disclose the wireless device of claim 11, Zhang fail to show wherein the random access procedure is further initiated based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure failing.
In an analogous art Matsumura show wherein the random access procedure is further initiated based on both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure failing[par 0054, 0113, 0132, A signal (e.g., preamble) transmitted from the user terminal (UE) during the random access procedure may be assumed as a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ). The Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure may place a limitation to associate a beam failure detection Reference Signal (RS) configuration with only one panel or one TRP in the multi-panel transmission scenario and the multi-TRP transmission scenario. When concurrently detecting beam failures or link failures at two Transmission Reception Points (TRPs), the user terminal (UE) transmits a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) according to Rel. 15 to the serving TRP via a PRACH resource. An RRC configuration according to Rel. 15 needs to be retained on the PRACH resource for the Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ)].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zhang and Matsumura because to provide a user terminal that can appropriately perform a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure even when performing communication by using a plurality of transmission points in a future radio communication system. [Matsumura par 0007]
15, Zhang and Matsumura describe the wireless device of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the wireless device to: determine the first BFR procedure failed based on a signal power of the first BFD RS set; and determine the second BFR procedure failed based on a signal power of the second BFD RS set [Zhang par 0159, In addition, a reference signal used to detect a link failure may also be implicitly indicated, and a reference signal associated with a TCI indicating a PDCCH is used as the reference signal used to detect the link failure. The reference signal is a reference signal that meets a QCL relationship with a DMRS on the PDCCH and that is periodically sent. An RS in a beam failure detection RS set and a demodulation reference signal on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH meet a QCL relationship or use a same TCI state as the PDCCH. When channel quality information (for example, reference signal received power (reference signal receiving power, RSRAP)].
16. Zhang and Matsumura define the wireless device of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the wireless device to determine the first BFR procedure failed further based on a first beam failure indication counter[Zhang par 0203, In an optional embodiment, in a link failure recovery process, the terminal device maintains a beam failure recovery timer or counter, to stop the link failure recovery process in a timely manner. The beam failure recovery timer is used to control a link failure recovery time, and the beam failure recovery counter is used to control a quantity of link failure recovery requests]..
17, Zhang and Matsumura provide the wireless device of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the wireless device to determine the second BFR procedure failed further based on a second beam failure indication counter[Zhang, par 0241, the link failure recovery request information of the first cell within a time specified by a link failure recovery timer and/or a quantity of times specified by a link failure recovery counter, and reliability of a receive beam on which the link failure recovery response information of the first cell can be received or reliability of the information about the spatial relation parameter may be better. Therefore, the first indication information is sent by using the spatial relation information of the channel that carries the link failure recovery response information of the first cell, so that a probability that the network device receives the first indication information can be increased].
18. Zhang and Matsumura demonstrate the wireless device of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the wireless device to select a random access channel (RACH) resource based on one of the first BFD RS set or the second BFD RS set [Zhang par 0263, When the terminal device determines that a beam failure occurs in the first cell, the terminal device searches the CSI-RS 2 to the CSI-RS 16 for a downlink reference signal whose channel quality is greater than a preset threshold, and sends beam failure recovery request information of the first cell on a PRACH resource corresponding to the downlink reference signal. In this case, the network device knows that the beam failure occurs in the first cell, and knows that a new downlink beam recommended by the terminal device is the downlink reference signal associated with the PRACH resource. When the terminal determines that a beam failure occurs in a i.sup.th cell, the terminal device sends the first indication information for ai.sup.th cell on a PRACH resource (namely, a PRACH resource associated with a CSI-RS 1 resource) corresponding to a serving beam of the first cell].
21. Zhang a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless device[par 0105, The storage unit is configured to be coupled to a configuration unit and the sending unit, and the storage unit stores a program instruction and data that are necessary for the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may further include a processor, a transceiver, a memory, and the like, to perform the functions of the sending unit, the receiving unit, and the storage unit],
cause the wireless device to: receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages[par 0141, The communications system 200 includes a network device 210, a network device 220, and a terminal device 230. The network device 210 is a network device responsible for RRC communication with the terminal device 230 during initial access of the terminal device 230. The network device 220 is added during RRC]
comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell; and a second BFD RS set of the cell; trigger a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set [par 0066, 0280, a candidate reference signal resource set of ai.sup.th cell, that is, is related to a quantity of downlink reference signals in a candidate reference signal resource set of a cell indicated by the identification information, and a quantity of bits of the fourth reference signal information is related to a quantity of downlink reference Signals in a beam failure detection reference signal resource set of a i.sup.th cell, that is, is related to a quantity of downlink reference signals in a beam failure detection reference signal resource set of a cell indicated by the identification information. the quantity of bits of the third reference signal information is determined based on a candidate reference signal resource set with a largest quantity of downlink reference signals that is in a plurality of candidate reference signal resource sets corresponding to the N second cells, and the quantity of bits of the fourth reference signal information is determined based on a failure detection reference signal resource set with a largest quantity of downlink reference signals that is in a plurality of beam failure detection reference signal resource sets corresponding to the N second cells];
trigger a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set [par 0241, When determining that a link failure occurs in the first cell, the terminal device may send, by using spatial relation information associated with a plurality of downlink reference signals, the link failure recovery request information of the first cell within a time specified by a link failure recovery timer and/or a quantity of times specified by a link failure recovery counter, and reliability of a receive beam on which the link failure recovery response information of the first cell can be received or reliability of the information about the spatial relation parameter may be better];
Zhang fail to show comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell, and a second BFD RS set of the cell; trigger a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set, trigger a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set, initiate a random access procedure on the cell in response both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered.
In an analogous art Matsumura comprising configuration parameters indicating: a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) set of a cell, and a second BFD RS set of the cell [par 0069, 0142, a Transmission Point (TP) may be read as a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a panel or a cell. A new candidate beam detection reference signal RS 1 transmitted from the TRP 1 may be a PRACH 1 for a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) transmitted from the TRP 1. The new candidate beam detection reference signal RS 2 transmitted from the TRP 2 may be the PRACH 2 for a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) transmitted from the TRP 2],
trigger a first beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on the first BFD RS set, trigger a second BFR procedure based on the second BFD RS set, initiate a random access procedure on the cell in response both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered [par 0054, 0113, 0132, A signal (e.g., preamble) transmitted from the user terminal (UE) during the random access procedure may be assumed as a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ). The Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure may place a limitation to associate a beam failure detection Reference Signal (RS) configuration with only one panel or one TRP in the multi-panel transmission scenario and the multi-TRP transmission scenario. When concurrently detecting beam failures or link failures at two Transmission Reception Points (TRPs), the user terminal (UE) transmits a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) according to Rel. 15 to the serving TRP via a PRACH resource. An RRC configuration according to Rel. 15 needs to be retained on the PRACH resource for the Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ)].
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zhang and Matsumura because to provide a user terminal that can appropriately perform a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) procedure even when performing communication by using a plurality of transmission points in a future radio communication system. [Matsumura par 0007]
22, Zhang and Matsumura convey the method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an uplink transmission based on: a first candidate RS associated with the first BFD RS set [par 0142, a new candidate beam detection reference signal RS 1 transmitted from the TRP 1 may be a PRACH 1 for a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) transmitted from the TRP 1]; and a second candidate RS associated with the second BFD RS set [par 0142, The new candidate beam detection reference signal RS 2 transmitted from the TRP 2 may be the PRACH 2 for a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) transmitted from the TRP 2].
Response to Arguments
Applicant respectfully disagrees that the previously recited features are disclosed or suggested by Wei. However, in an effort to advance and expedite prosecution, independent claim 1 is amended to clarify that the random access procedure is initiated on the cell in response to both the first and second BFR procedures being triggered. Wei fails to disclose or suggest at least these features of amended independent claim 1.
Accordingly, Wei fails to disclose or suggest at least the features of "initiating a random access procedure on the cell in response to both the first BFR procedure and the second BFR procedure being triggered," as recited by independent claim 1. Therefore Wei fails to overcome the deficiencies of Zhang. For at least the above reasons, independent claim 1 is patentable over the applied references. Further, independent claims 11 and 21, which recite similar distinguishing features as independent claim 1, are patentable over the applied references for at least the same reasoning as independent claim 1. Dependent claims 2-10 and 12-18 are patentable over the applied references for at least the same reasons as the independent claims from which they respectively depend, and further in view of their own features.
The applicant’s arguments are moot in view of newly rejected claims.
Conclusion
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/JASON A HARLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 2468