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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/11/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s argument regarding the 103 rejection have been considered and are not persuasive. The combination of Zhang, Sun and Chung teaches each and every limitation in the amended claims. Detailed responses can be found in the new ground of rejection in the office action, especially in the rejection of claim 1, for each limitation.
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 1-7, 9, 11-12, 14-24, 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20240073918) in view of Sun (US 20230283353) further in view of Chung (US 20230354301).
Regarding claim 1 (similarly to 13, 16, 29), Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more antennas; and a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories that store code and are coupled with the one or more processors (fig. 10, [0100]), the processing system configured to cause the UE to
receive, from a network node, configuration information indicating a particular single frequency network (SFN) scheme to be applied by the UE (figs. 2-4, claim 1, receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) through more than one beams from at least one Transceiver Point (TRP); determining a DCI transmission which is a Single Frequency Network (SFN) scheme; step 310, [0053-55], TCI selection for date receptions in the SFN scheme);
receive, from the network node, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) codepoint indicating two or more TCI states associated with the particular SFN scheme (fig. 3, [0032] [0042]-[0044], in the SFN scheme, the BS can transmit PDCCH repetitions with fully overlapped resources with different beams and the BS can configure 2 TCI states for a CORESET two candidate TCIs, which may be referred to as the two TCI states configured for the CORESET; claim 2; if the TCI is present in scheduling DCI, the UE receives the PDSCH based on the QCL information indicated by the TCI);
apply quasi co-location (QCL) parameters and the particular SFN scheme for the two or more TCI states and the multiple downlink channels ( [0031], if the TCI is present in scheduling DCI, the UE receives the PDSCH based on the QCL information indicated by the TCI. That is, the QCL parameters are applied to the TCI states and the downlink transmissions, fig. 4),
receive, from the network node, one or more SFN communications using one or more of the multiple downlink channels (fig. 3, 7, illustrating an example method of downlink data reception operation in the SFN scheme, [0031]; fig. 4, downlinks 431, 432, 441, 442),
receive, from the network node, a beam indication that is associated with a unified TCI state indication (Zhang, [0004], [0054-55], may determine the beam associated with the PDSCH transmission based on candidate TCIs configured the CORESET with scheduling PDCCH 431 and 432. Here, it implies that the beam is associated with the TCIs and is sent by the network node with configuration information),
wherein the multiple downlink channels include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (fig. 4, downlinks 431, 432, 441, 442).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose wherein the particular SFN scheme is one SFN scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes.
Sun discloses receiving configuration information indicating a particular single frequency network (SFN) scheme to be applied by the UE; wherein the particular SFN scheme is one SFN scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes (Sun, [0007], [0093], [0139], providing an indication to the wireless device of a type of single frequency network scheme in use. It may be possible that multiple high speed single frequency network schemes can be used. Accordingly, it may also be possible that an explicit indication of the type of (a particular) high speed single frequency network scheme in use is provided to the wireless device),
Sun also discloses receive, from the network node, a beam indication that is associated with a unified TCI state indication (Sun, [0088], in such a scenario, the wireless device may be configured (e.g., via received RRC signaling) with one or more transmission control indicators (TCIs), e.g., which may correspond to various beams).
apply quasi co-location (QCL) parameters and the particular SFN scheme for the two or more TCI states and the multiple downlink channels (Sun, [0090][0113], it may be the case that resources in both BFD resource sets are configured to be QCL′d to TRS with QCL-TypeA (and QCL-TypeD if applicable, such as in FR2), while to identify HST-SFN with pre-compensation, multiple TRPs implies multiple downlinks).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of SFN scheme as given by Zhang with the teachings of indication of SFN type given by Sun. The motivation for doing so would have been to introduce a method of performing beam failure recovery in a high speed single frequency network scenario in a wireless communication system.
Zhang and Sun do not explicitly disclose wherein the beam indication indicates that the two or more TCI states are to be applied to multiple downlink channels and reference signals.
Chung discloses receive, from the network node, a beam indication that is associated with a unified TCI state indication, wherein the beam indication indicates that the two or more TCI states are to be applied to multiple downlink channels and reference signals (Chung, fig. 8, [0332-341], s810, s820, the terminal may receive configuration information for beam indication on the unified TCI scheme; the terminal may perform downlink reception based on at least one TCI state among the plurality of TCI states; when the downlink reception is configured in a single frequency network (SFN)-based scheme, the indication information related to the application of the plurality of TCI states includes information on whether to apply all of the plurality of TCI states. In this regard, the whether to apply all of the plurality of TCI states or a part/some of the plurality of TCI states is indicated for each of at least one reference signal configured as a target of the unified TCI scheme; [0296], for application of two TCI states for the purpose of beam indication, when SFN-based PDCCH/PDSCH is scheduled/configured, each TCI state may be applied in correspondent with (existing) each TCI state for indicating a beam for PDCCH/PDSCH);
Chung also discloses wherein the multiple downlink channels include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) ([0296], for application of two TCI states for the purpose of beam indication, when SFN-based PDCCH/PDSCH is scheduled/configured, each TCI state may be applied in correspondent with (existing) each TCI state for indicating a beam for PDCCH/PDSCH. Here, one TCI state may indicate PDCCH, and one TCI may indicate PDSCH),
receive, from the network node, one or more SFN communications using one or more of the multiple downlink channels (Chung, fig. 8, [0332-0340][0350], s830, perform downlink reception based on the TCI states, when the downlink reception is configured in a single frequency network (SFN)-based scheme, the plurality of TCI states are respectively mapped to a plurality of TCI states pre-configured for the SFN-based scheme).
Chung also discloses receive, from the network node, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) codepoint indicating two or more TCI states associated with the particular SFN scheme (Chung, [0334], the terminal may receive information indicating a plurality of TCI states based on the unified TCI scheme).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of SFN scheme as given by Zhang and Sun with the teachings of beam indication given by Chung. The motivation for doing so would have been to introduce a unified TCI framework which facilitates streamlined multi-beam operation. It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claim 2 (similarly to 14, 17) , Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the beam indication includes updated information for a TCI state, from the two or more TCI states (Chung, [0264][0288], generally, an update of a TCI state is performed through different DCIs through each CORESET pool). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 3 (similarly to 18), Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 2, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to:
identify the TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, that is to be associated with the updated information based at least in part on a rule (Zhang, fig. 3, [0042]-[0044], select/update one TCI from two candidate TCIs, which may be referred to as the two TCI states configured for the CORESET). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 1.
Regarding claims 4, 19, Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 2, wherein the network node is associated with the TCI state (Chung, fig. 9, the base station may transmit configuration information on the unified TCI scheme, that is, the base station is associated with the TCI state), and wherein the updated information is applied to the TCI state based at least in part on the beam indication ( Chung, [0264][0288][0303], all of the indicated two TCI states or a specific one among the indicated two TCI states may be applied to configure/update the beam). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 5 (similarly to 20), Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 2, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to:
identify the TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, that is to be associated with the updated information based at least in part on an identifier associated with the TCI state (Zhang, [0047], select a TCI with a predefined identification (ID) from the two candidate TCIs).
Regarding claim 6 (similarly to 21, 30), Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause the UE to:
switch an operating mode from the SFN scheme to a non-SFN scheme based at least in part on the beam indication (Zhang, figs. 7-8, hybrid of SFN scheme and non-SFN scheme, implies that in a hybrid mode, one can switch from SFN scheme to a non-SFN scheme). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 7 (similarly to 15, 22), Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the configuration information indicates that the particular SFN scheme is applicable to a first one or more downlink channels (Zhang, fig. 3, [0042]; Chung, fig. 8, [0332-0340][0350], s830, when the downlink reception is configured in a single frequency network (SFN)-based scheme), and
wherein the beam indication indicates that the two or more TCI states are to be applied to the multiple downlink channels based at least in part on the multiple downlink channels being included in the first one or more downlink channels (Zhang, [0034], the UE may select at least one TCI for PDSCH reception from candidate TCIs configured for one or more CORESETs with scheduling PDCCH). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 9, 24, Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein QCL-typeA information from each TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, is applied for SFN operations (Sun, [0113], it may be the case that resources in both BFD resource sets are configured to be QCL′d to TRS with QCL-TypeA (and QCL-TypeD if applicable, such as in FR2), while to identify HST-SFN with pre-compensation). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one TCI state is identified based at least in part on a rule (Zhang, [0040], may select at least one TCI for PDSCH reception from candidate TCIs configured for one or more CORESET associated with the scheduling PDCCH).
Regarding claim 12, 28, Zhang and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the configuration information indicates that each of the multiple downlink channels are associated with the SFN scheme (Zhang, [0042], an example method 300 of downlink data reception operation in the SFN scheme, that is, the multiple downlink channels are associated with the SFN scheme ).
Claims 8, 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang, Sun and Chung further in view of Vivo ((Views on unified TCI framework extension for multi-TRP, 3GPP DRAFT; R1-2203541, April 2022, cited in IDS).
Regarding claims 8, 23, Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the configuration information indicates that the particular SFN scheme is applicable to first downlink channels (Zhang, fig. 3, [0042]; Chung, fig. 8, [0332-0340][0350]).
Zhang, Sun and Chung do not explicitly disclose the first downlink channels are a subset of the multiple downlink channels, wherein the two or more TCI states are applied to the first downlink channels, and wherein a single TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, is applied to a second one or more downlink channels from the multiple downlink channels.
Vivo discloses the first downlink channels are a subset of the multiple downlink channels, wherein the two or more TCI states are applied to the first downlink channels, and wherein a single TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, is applied to a second one or more downlink channels from the multiple downlink channels (Vivo, section 2.2, to introduce channel grouping mechanism, where channel groups are associated with separate TCI state pools according to the beam indication DCI, page 6, the indicated TCI state applied for each TRP and for DL is updated, respectively, Proposal 10, the multiple indicated TCI states are associated with the channel groups, respectively).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of SFN scheme as given by Zhang and Sun with the teachings of identifying downlink channels given by Vivo. The motivation for doing so would have been to identify downlink channels for streamlined multi-beam operation.
Claims 10, 25-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang, Sun and Chung further in view of Matsumura (US 20240275560).
Regarding claims 10, 25, Zhang, Sun and Chung disclose the UE of claim 1,
Zhang, Sun and Chung do not explicitly disclose wherein QCL information associated with Doppler parameters for at least one TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, is not applied by the UE.
Matsumura discloses wherein quasi co-location (QCL) information associated with Doppler parameters for at least one TCI state, from the two or more TCI states, is not applied by the UE (Matsumura, [0182], claim 2, Doppler pre-compensation is applied to the PDSCH, when the default TCI state includes two TCI states, the control section drops a specific quasi-co-location parameter of a specific TCI state of the two TCI states, that is, the Doppler parameters are not applied; the UE may ignore a specific QCL parameter (for example, Doppler shift/Doppler spread) of the second TCI state for DMRS).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of SFN scheme as given by Zhang with the teachings of consideration of Doppler parameters given by Matsumura. The motivation for doing so would have been to introduce a unified TCI framework which facilitates streamlined multi-beam operation and to provide a terminal, a radio communication method, and a base station that appropriately control operation related to a TCI state/default TCI state.
Regarding claim 26, Zhang, Sun, Chung and Matsumura disclose the method of claim 25, wherein the at least one TCI state is not indicated by the beam indication (Matsumura, [0184], one TCI state is not indicated). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 25.
Regarding claim 27, Zhang, Sun, Chung and Matsumura disclose the method of claim 25, wherein the beam indication indicates updated information for the at least one TCI state. (Chung, [0323], at this time, each TCI state may be indicated/updated through DCI; Matsumura, [0184], the at least one TCI state is the TCI state). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 25.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474