Application/Control Number: 17/687,433 Page 2
Art Unit: 2412Notice 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
This communication is in response to applicant’s 12/04/2025 amendment or response in the application of TAKEDA et al. for “REFERENCE SIGNAL SIGNALING FOR SECONDARY CELLS” filed 03/04/2022. The amendment or response to the claims have been entered. No claims have been canceled. No claims have been added. Claims 1-30 are now pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
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(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
, Claim(s) 1, 13-14, 18-20, 29-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by ZHOU et al. (US 2019/0215136 A1), hereinafter ZHOU.
Regarding claim 1, ZHOU discloses a method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of reference signal formats, each set of reference signal formats including a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells of a set of cells (a wireless device (e.g., UE in FIG. 31) may receive, from a base station (e.g., gNB in FIG. 31), at least one RRC message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells comprising a primary cell and at least one secondary cell (e.g., SCell in FIG. 31), wherein, the configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a reference signal (RS) resource setting; and/or a CSI reporting setting for L1-RSRP reporting. A L1-RSRP may indicate the receiving quality of a RS transmitted from a beam. The RS resource setting may comprise a set of RS resources, each RS resource associated with a RS resource configuration identifier and radio resource configuration (e.g., number of ports; time and frequency resource allocation; frequency density; etc., see ¶ 0301 and figure 31);
receiving a trigger signal indicating an active set of reference signal formats of the one or more sets of reference signal formats, the trigger signal indicative of reference signal transmission from the cells of the set of cells in accordance with the reference signal formats associated with the active set of reference signal formats; identifying an activation state for each cell in the set of cells (the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell., step 201 figure 31; ¶ 0303).
Regarding claim 13, ZHOU discloses receiving a secondary cell activation message that indicates that the at least one secondary cell is to be activated at the UE, wherein the activation state for the at least one secondary cell is based at least in part on the secondary cell activation message ( the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell, see ¶ 0303).
Regarding claim 14, ZHOU discloses wherein the secondary cell activation message is received using a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) message (the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell, see ¶ 0303 and figure 31).
Regarding claim 18, ZHOU discloses the configuration signal is received in a radio resource control (RRC) message (a wireless device (e.g., UE in FIG. 31) may receive, from a base station (e.g., gNB in FIG. 31), at least one RRC message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells comprising a primary cell and at least one secondary cell (e.g., SCell in FIG. 31), wherein, the configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a reference signal (RS) resource setting; and/or a CSI reporting setting for L1-RSRP reporting, see ¶ 0301 and figure 31).
Regarding claim 19, ZHOU discloses the trigger signal is received in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or an aperiodic channel state information request field of a downlink control information (DCI) (the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell, see ¶ 0303 and figure 31).
Regarding claim 20, ZHOU discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of reference signal formats, each set of reference signal formats including a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells of a set of cells (a wireless device (e.g., UE in FIG. 31) may receive, from a base station (e.g., gNB in FIG. 31), at least one RRC message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells comprising a primary cell and at least one secondary cell (e.g., SCell in FIG. 31), wherein, the configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a reference signal (RS) resource setting; and/or a CSI reporting setting for L1-RSRP reporting. A L1-RSRP may indicate the receiving quality of a RS transmitted from a beam. The RS resource setting may comprise a set of RS resources, each RS resource associated with a RS resource configuration identifier and radio resource configuration (e.g., number of ports; time and frequency resource allocation; frequency density; etc., see ¶ 0301 and figure 31);
receive a trigger signal indicating an active set of reference signal formats of the one or more sets of reference signal formats, the trigger signal indicative of reference signal transmission from the cells of the set of cells in accordance with the reference signal formats associated with the active set of reference signal formats; identifying an activation state for each cell in the set of cells (the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell., step 201 figure 31; ¶ 0303).
Regarding claim 29, ZHOU discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
means for receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of reference signal formats, each set of reference signal formats including a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells of a set of cells (a wireless device (e.g., UE in FIG. 31) may receive, from a base station (e.g., gNB in FIG. 31), at least one RRC message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells comprising a primary cell and at least one secondary cell (e.g., SCell in FIG. 31), wherein, the configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a reference signal (RS) resource setting; and/or a CSI reporting setting for L1-RSRP reporting. A L1-RSRP may indicate the receiving quality of a RS transmitted from a beam. The RS resource setting may comprise a set of RS resources, each RS resource associated with a RS resource configuration identifier and radio resource configuration (e.g., number of ports; time and frequency resource allocation; frequency density; etc., see ¶ 0301 and figure 31);
means for receiving a trigger signal indicating an active set of reference signal formats of the one or more sets of reference signal formats, the trigger signal indicative of reference signal transmission from the cells of the set of cells in accordance with the reference signal formats associated with the active set of reference signal formats; identifying an activation state for each cell in the set of cells (the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell., step 201 figure 31; ¶ 0303).
Regarding claim 30, ZHOU discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:
receive a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of reference signal formats, each set of reference signal formats including a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells of a set of cells (a wireless device (e.g., UE in FIG. 31) may receive, from a base station (e.g., gNB in FIG. 31), at least one RRC message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells comprising a primary cell and at least one secondary cell (e.g., SCell in FIG. 31), wherein, the configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a reference signal (RS) resource setting; and/or a CSI reporting setting for L1-RSRP reporting. A L1-RSRP may indicate the receiving quality of a RS transmitted from a beam. The RS resource setting may comprise a set of RS resources, each RS resource associated with a RS resource configuration identifier and radio resource configuration (e.g., number of ports; time and frequency resource allocation; frequency density; etc., see ¶ 0301 and figure 31);
receive a trigger signal indicating an active set of reference signal formats of the one or more sets of reference signal formats, the trigger signal indicative of reference signal transmission from the cells of the set of cells in accordance with the reference signal formats associated with the active set of reference signal formats; identifying an activation state for each cell in the set of cells (the gNB may transmit to the UE, a media access control (MAC) command indicating activation of at least a first SCell (e.g., the SCell in FIG. 31) in the at least one secondary cell. The UE may receive the MAC CE, and attempt to activate the at least first SCell, by measuring one or more RS resources of the at least first SCell., step 201 figure 31; ¶ 0303).
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) 2, 4-6, 21, 23-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU in view of HSIEH et al. (US 2022/0271899 A1), hereinafter HSIEH.
Regarding claims 2, 6, 21, 25 ZHOU fails to explicitly disclose determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an activated state or to be activated, wherein the at least one secondary cell is already activated; determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the active set of reference signal formats comprises a temporary aperiodic reference signal format; and
performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell by refraining from monitoring for the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the activated static and on the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the active set of reference signal formats comprising the temporary aperiodic reference signal format.
In the same field of endeavor, HSIEH discloses that the UE receives, on a primary cell, an activation command from a base station for activating a secondary cell between the UE and the base station. The UE receives scheduling information of a set of aperiodic tracking reference signals (TRSs). The UE receives a trigger indicating transmission of the set of aperiodic TRSs. The UE initiates a RF chain of the UE configured for the secondary cell in an interruption period. The UE receives, in response to receiving the trigger and in accordance with the scheduling information, the set of aperiodic TRSs on the secondary cell prior to receiving an initial periodic synchronization signal block (SSB) or an initial periodic TRS after the interruption period. The UE performs time and frequency tracking on the secondary cell based on the set of aperiodic TRSs (see ¶ 0007).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement HSIEH’s teaching in the network taught by ZHOU to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability in 5G standard by reducing SCell activation delay at the user equipment.
Regarding claims 4-5, 23-24, ZHOU fails to explicitly disclose determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an activated state or to be activated, wherein the at least one secondary cell is already activated;
determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the active set of reference signal formats comprises a tracking reference signal format; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell by monitoring for the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the activated state and on the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the active set of reference signal formats comprising the tracking reference signal format.
In the same field of endeavor, HSIEH discloses that the UE receives, on a primary cell, an activation command from a base station for activating a secondary cell between the UE and the base station. The UE receives scheduling information of a set of aperiodic tracking reference signals (TRSs). The UE receives a trigger indicating transmission of the set of aperiodic TRSs. The UE initiates a RF chain of the UE configured for the secondary cell in an interruption period. The UE receives, in response to receiving the trigger and in accordance with the scheduling information, the set of aperiodic TRSs on the secondary cell prior to receiving an initial periodic synchronization signal block (SSB) or an initial periodic TRS after the interruption period. The UE performs time and frequency tracking on the secondary cell based on the set of aperiodic TRSs (see ¶ 0007).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement HSIEH’s teaching in the network taught by ZHOU to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability in 5G standard by reducing SCell activation delay at the user equipment.
Claim(s) 9-11, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU in view of XIAO et al. (US 2021/0167911 A1), hereinafter XIAO.
Regarding claims 9-11, and 28, ZHOU fails to disclose identifying that the active set of reference signal formats of the one or more sets of reference signal formats includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format that includes a first portion of a tracking reference signal and a second portion of the tracking reference signal, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive slots or non-consecutive slots.
In the same field of endeavor, XIAO discloses the base station send out Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) to the UE, where the TRS is divided into two parts: the first part for AP TRS and the second part of AP TRS. The base station sends the aperiodic tracking reference signal on the slot determined according to the first signaling. The slot for sending the first part of the aperiodic tracking reference signal is determined according to the first signaling. The slot for sending the first part of the aperiodic tracking reference signal is used for sending the first part of the aperiodic tracking reference signal. the slot for sending the first part of the aperiodic TRS determined by the base station is a slot K+n, where K denotes the slot where the resource for transmitting the first signaling is located, n denotes the slot or the slot offset relative to the slot for sending the first part of the aperiodic tracking reference signal. Generally, the TRS is transmitted by using two slots (see ¶ 0125-0137).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement XIAO’s teaching of sending aperiodic reference signal having first portion and second portion in the communication method taught by ZHOU to provide the UE with flexibility to effectively receive the reference signal and the physical shared channel which are transmitted on the common time domain resource.
Claim(s) 7-8, 12, 26-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU in view of KIM et al. (US 2021/0250156 A1), hereinafter KIM.
Regarding claims 7-8, 12, 26-27, ZHOU fails to explicitly disclose determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the active set of reference signal formats indicates a first reference signal format associated with a first activation state and a second reference signal format associated with a second activation state; and selecting the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on whether the at least one secondary cell is in the first activation state or the second activation state or determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an inactive state wherein the at least one secondary cell is deactivated; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell by refraining from monitoring for the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the inactive state.
In the same field of endeavor, KIM discloses when the UE receives a configuration of a Spcell and a plurality of Scells through an RRC message, the UE may receive a configuration of a state or mode for each Scell or a BWP of the SCell through the RRC message, the MAC CE, or the PDCCH DCI. The state or mode of the Scell may be configured as an active mode or activated state, or a deactivated mode or deactivated state. The active mode or the activated state of the Scell may mean that the UE may exchange uplink or downlink data with the gNB in an activated BWP of the SCell, or an activated normal BWP or a BWP other than an activated dormant BWP of the Scell in the active mode or the activated Scell (see ¶ 0139, 0143, 0144).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement KIM’s teaching in the network taught by ZHOU in order to conserve the network’s resources by dynamically adjusting the Scell status.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 15-17, 22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 3, when reading the claims considering the specification, none of the references of record alone or in combination disclose or suggest the combination of limitations specified in the claim limitation of: determining that a downlink transmission is scheduled using overlapping resources that overlap with the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell; and decoding the downlink transmission based at least in part on an assumption that the downlink transmission was either punctured or rate matched around the overlapping resources.
Regarding claim 15, when reading the claims considering the specification, none of the references of record alone or in combination disclose or suggest the combination of limitations specified in the claim limitation of: determining that the trigger signal is received during a time window, the time window based at least in part on a delay time after the configuration signal is received and a threshold time limit; andapplying the active set of reference signal formats based at least in part on the trigger signal being received during the time window.
Regarding claim 16, when reading the claims considering the specification, none of the references of record alone or in combination disclose or suggest the combination of limitations specified in the claim limitation of: determining that the trigger signal is received prior to a time window, the time window based at least in part on a delay time after the configuration signal is received and a threshold time limit; and refraining from applying the active set of reference signal formats based at least in part on the trigger signal being received prior to the time window.
Regarding claim 17, when reading the claims considering the specification, none of the references of record alone or in combination disclose or suggest the combination of limitations specified in the claim limitation of: determining that the trigger signal is received after a time window, the time window based at least in part on a delay time after the configuration signal is received and a threshold time limit; and applying an active reference signal format of the active set of reference signal formats based at least in part on the trigger signal being received after the time window.
Regarding claim 22, when reading the claims considering the specification, none of the references of record alone or in combination disclose or suggest the combination of limitations specified in the claim limitation of: determine that a downlink transmission is scheduled using overlapping resources that overlap with the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell; and decode the downlink transmission based at least in part on an assumption that the downlink transmission was either punctured or rate matched around the overlapping resources.
Response to Arguments
The examiner inadvertently wrote the wrong publication number for the cited reference ZHOU in the last office action. However, the PTO 892 correctly cited the PG pub number.
Responding to the applicant’s argument, the examiner respectfully disagrees with the argument for the following. ZHOU discloses in ¶ 0301:
FIG. 31 shows an example embodiment of a beam management of a SCell. In an example, a wireless device (e.g., UE in FIG. 31) may receive, from a base station (e.g., gNB in FIG. 31), at least one RRC message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells comprising a primary cell and at least one secondary cell (e.g., SCell in FIG. 31), wherein, the configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a reference signal (RS) resource setting; and/or a CSI reporting setting for L1-RSRP reporting. A L1-RSRP may indicate the receiving quality of a RS transmitted from a beam. The RS resource setting may comprise a set of RS resources, each RS resource associated with a RS resource configuration identifier and radio resource configuration (e.g., number of ports; time and frequency resource allocation; frequency density; etc.). In an example, the RS may be a CSI-RS, and/or a SS/PBCH block.
The instant claim called for “one or more of sets” thus if one set of RS format is disclosed by the cited reference, it meets the claimed limitation. As cited above, the base station transmits at least one RRC configuration message to UE, where the RRC message comprising configuration parameters having at least one reference signal (RS) resource setting (at least one reference signal format) for a plurality of cells (a set of cells) comprising the primary cell and at least one secondary cell. Also, the RS resource setting may further comprise of a set of RS resources, each resource associated with a RS resource configuration identifier and radio resource configuration. Although the cited reference did not use the word “mapping,” one skill in the art should recognize that the configuration parameters comprise of at least one RS setting for the plurality of cells have the same context of claimed. Therefore, ZHOU discloses the claimed subject matter the user equipment (UE) “receiving a configuration signal indicating one more sets of reference signal formats, each set of reference signal formats including a mapping reference signal formats to respective cells of a set of cells.”
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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or faxed to:
(571) 273-8300, (for formal communications intended for entry)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor CHARLES C. JIANG can be reach on (571) 270-7191.
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/BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412