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 .
Status of Claims
This office action is responsive to the RCE filed on 12/31/25. Claims 21, 23, 25 and 27 have been canceled and claims 1 – 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 – 31 are pending.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/31/25 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/31/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues the cited references do not teach “receive, from the network node, a command to perform a beam switch associated with a beam switch type, wherein the command indicates that the mobile station is to perform the beam switch during a time period that has a duration that is based on the beam switch capability information.” However, Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to the rejection below. Zhou teaches the limitations in at least paragraph 76: At 1004, the first device uses the latency to determine when, after the first device sends a beam switch command to the second device, the second device is capable of processing a set of measurement signals; and paragraph 77: the latency indicated by a UE may indication a minimum processing time needed by the UE to perform the beam switch and be able to process a subsequent transmission after the switch. For example, if a downlink control information (DCI) transmission triggers an aperiodic CSI-RS (A-CSI-RS) transmission, the UE may only be able to process the CSI-RS transmission if a scheduling offset indicated in the DCI is greater than the minimum time for a beam switch latency. Further described in paragraph 80: From the NB perspective, each value signaled for a beam switch latency may indicate that, when the NB signals the UE to switch beams, it needs to give the UE at least that much time before it can process the CSI-RS).
Therefore, it is the Examiner’s position that the claim limitations as written have been met and the rejection has been maintained.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 – 13, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 – 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (US 2019/0260456 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2023/0155655 A1) and Kung et al. (US 2023/0171788 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches a mobile station (Fig. 4: UE 120; paragraph 76: second device), comprising: a memory (memory 482); and one or more processors (processor 480) configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory: transmit, to a network node (BS 110; paragraph 76: first device), beam switch capability information that indicates a minimum beam switch time for one or more beam switch types (paragraphs 75 – 77: by receiving, from a second device, signaling indicating a latency associated with a beam switch at the second device… The latency indicated by a UE may indicate a minimum processing time needed by the UE to perform the beam switch and be able to process a subsequent transmission after the switch. Further described in paragraph 86: the UE may signal a beam switch latency per type of beam switch. Further, each of multiple types of beam switches may have a corresponding beam switch latency, and the UE may feedback a beam switch latency per type); receive, from the network node, a command to perform a beam switch associated with a beam switch type, wherein the command indicates that the mobile station is to perform the beam switch during a time period that has a duration that is based on the beam switch capability information (paragraph 76: At 1004, the first device uses the latency to determine when, after the first device sends a beam switch command to the second device, the second device is capable of processing a set of measurement signals; and paragraph 77: the latency indicated by a UE may indication a minimum processing time needed by the UE to perform the beam switch and be able to process a subsequent transmission after the switch. For example, if a downlink control information (DCI) transmission triggers an aperiodic CSI-RS (A-CSI-RS) transmission, the UE may only be able to process the CSI-RS transmission if a scheduling offset indicated in the DCI is greater than the minimum time for a beam switch latency. Further described in paragraph 80: From the NB perspective, each value signaled for a beam switch latency may indicate that, when the NB signals the UE to switch beams, it needs to give the UE at least that much time before it can process the CSI-RS); and perform the beam switch between a first signal and a second signal, wherein the time period has a duration that satisfies the minimum beam switch time for the beam switch type associated with the beam switch (Fig. 10, step 1004; paragraphs 76-77: At 1004, the first device uses the latency to determine when, after the first device sends a beam switch command to the second device, the second device is capable of processing a set of measurement signals. [0077] The latency indicated by a UE may indication a minimum processing time needed by the UE to perform the beam switch and be able to process a subsequent transmission after the switch. For example, if a downlink control information (DCI) transmission triggers an aperiodic CSI-RS (A-CSI-RS) transmission, the UE may only be able to process the CSI-RS transmission if a scheduling offset indicated in the DCI is greater than the minimum time for a beam switch latency).
Zhou does not explicitly disclose performing the beam switch between communication of a first signal and communication of a second signal, and an index identifying a capability value set that includes a maximum supported number of sounding reference signal (SRS) ports.
However, Zhang teaches performing the beam switch in a time period between communication of a first signal and communication of a second signal (Figs. 8 and 9; paragraphs 108-109: According, to process 800, first, at Step 805, the UE 705 may transmit a per-antenna panel UE capability report and an initial antenna panel index report (805) to the base station, in this case, gNB 725. The initial antenna panel index may be used to indicate which antenna panel the UE (and/or gNB) has selected to use for the initial UL communication. In some aspects, the antenna panel with the currently best beam quality may be selected. In some cases, UL beam quality may even be measured/estimated by a UE during downlink (DL) transmissions on the same antenna panels. Next, at Step 810, the gNB 725 may report hack configuration information (e.g., RRC configuration information in the form of an RRC parameter set) for each UE antenna panel. At Step 815, either the UE 705 or the gNB 725 may select the RRC parameter set corresponding to the initial antenna panel selected for uplink (UL) communication. At some later time, at Step 820, a new (e.g., second) antenna panel may be selected, again, either the UE 705 or the gNB 725, depending on implementation. Finally, at Step 825, either the UE 705 or the gNB 725 may select the RRC parameter set corresponding to the newly-selected antenna panel for uplink (UL) communication); and an index identifying a capability value set that includes a maximum supported number of sounding reference signal (SRS) ports (paragraph 102: a maximum number of ports per SRS resource. Also described in paragraph 125).
In view of this, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhou’s mobile station by incorporating the teachings of Zhang, for the purpose of specifying distinct signals for the transmission/reception of data, and indicating a specific capability to enable proper communication.
Zhou does not explicitly disclose an index identifying a capability value set that includes a maximum supported number of sounding reference signal (SRS) ports, one or more resource indices, and a Layer-1 (L1) reference signal measurement.
However, Kung teaches transmit, to a network node, beam switch capability information that indicates: an index identifying a capability value set that includes a maximum supported number of sounding reference signal (SRS) ports (paragraph 178: Support UE reporting of maximum number of SRS ports and coherence type for each panel entity as a UE capability), one or more resource indices (paragraph 174: A panel entity corresponds to a reported CSI-RS and/or SSB resource index in a beam reporting instance), and a Layer-1 (L1) reference signal measurement (paragraph 87: channel measurement for L1-RSRP).
In view of this, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhou and Zhang’s mobile station by incorporating the teachings of Kung, for the purpose of indicating a specific capability to enable proper communication.
Regarding claim 2, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between a first downlink signal that has a first quasi co-location (QCL) assumptions for a spatial receive (Rx) parameter and a second downlink signal that has a second QCL assumptions for the spatial Rx parameter (paragraph 87: In some cases, different types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition ON across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is ON, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with same Tx beam across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using different Rx beams across different resources. In this way, the UE can figure out the best Rx beam associated with the fixed Tx beam).
Regarding claim 3, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between a first downlink signal that has a quasi co-location (QCL) assumption for a spatial receive (Rx) parameter and a second downlink signal without a QCL assumption for the spatial Rx parameter (paragraph 87: In some cases, different types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition ON across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is ON, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with same Tx beam across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using different Rx beams across different resources. In this way, the UE can figure out the best Rx beam associated with the fixed Tx beam).
Regarding claim 4, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between two downlink reference signals without quasi co-location assumptions for a spatial receive parameter (paragraph 87: In some cases, different types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition ON across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is ON, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with same Tx beam across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using different Rx beams across different resources. In this way, the UE can figure out the best Rx beam associated with the fixed Tx beam).
Regarding claim 5, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between two downlink reference signals that share a quasi co-location assumption for a spatial receive parameter in a resource set with repetitions configured (paragraph 88: In some cases, these types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition OFF across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is OFF, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with different Tx beams across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using same Rx beam across different resources).
Regarding claim 6, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between a first uplink signal with a first spatial relation and a second uplink signal with a second spatial relation (paragraph 88: In some cases, these types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition OFF across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is OFF, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with different Tx beams across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using same Rx beam across different resources).
Regarding claim 7, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between a first uplink signal with a spatial relation and a second uplink signal without a spatial relation (paragraph 88: In some cases, these types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition OFF across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is OFF, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with different Tx beams across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using same Rx beam across different resources).
Regarding claim 8, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more beam switch types are associated with a beam switch that is performed between two uplink reference signals without spatial relations (paragraph 88: In some cases, these types of beam switch latency may include, for example, a type of beam switch latency associated with DCI triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS with Tx beam repetition OFF across the resources within the triggered aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set. When the repetition is OFF, the base station will transmit the aperiodic-CSI-RS resource set with different Tx beams across all resources within the set, while the UE will measure the Tx beam quality per resource by using same Rx beam across different resources).
Regarding claim 9, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the minimum beam switch time comprises separate values that apply to each of the one or more beam switch types (paragraphs 91, 94 and 95: In one or more cases, instead of signaling single latency, multiple types of beam switch latency for various applications may be defined. Each beam switch type may therefore be configurable and may have a default latency value. A UE may then feedback the beam switch latency per type, which will overwrite the default value if it exists).
Regarding claim 10, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the minimum beam switch time comprises a single value that applies to each of the one or more beam switch types (paragraphs 91, 94 and 95: In one or more cases, instead of signaling single latency, multiple types of beam switch latency for various applications may be defined. Each beam switch type may therefore be configurable and may have a default latency value. A UE may then feedback the beam switch latency per type, which will overwrite the default value if it exists).
Regarding claim 11, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the minimum beam switch time comprises a first value that applies to each of the one or more beam switch types that are associated with switching a downlink receive beam, and a second value that applies to each of the one or more beam switch types that are associated with switching an uplink transmit beam (paragraphs 91, 94 and 95: In one or more cases, instead of signaling single latency, multiple types of beam switch latency for various applications may be defined. Each beam switch type may therefore be configurable and may have a default latency value. A UE may then feedback the beam switch latency per type, which will overwrite the default value if it exists).
Regarding claim 12, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the duration of the time period in which the beam switch is performed has a value that equals or exceeds a largest candidate value for the minimum beam switch time based at least in part on the beam switch being performed between adjacent synchronization signal blocks (paragraph 62: n NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block (SSB) is transmitted. The SS block includes a PSS, a SSS, and a two symbol PBCH. The SS block can be transmitted in a fixed slot location, such as the symbols 0-3 as shown in FIG. 6. The PSS and SSS may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The PSS may provide half-frame timing, the SS may provide the CP length and frame timing).
Regarding claim 13, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the command configures the time period to include one or more of a cyclic prefix within a symbol or a scheduling gap based at least in part on the beam switch capability information (paragraph 77: The latency indicated by a UE may indication a minimum processing time needed by the UE to perform the beam switch and be able to process a subsequent transmission after the switch. For example, if a downlink control information (DCI) transmission triggers an aperiodic CSI-RS (A-CSI-RS) transmission, the UE may only be able to process the CSI-RS transmission if a scheduling offset indicated in the DCI is greater than the minimum time for a beam switch latency).
Regarding claim 20, Zhou teaches the mobile station of claim 1, wherein the beam switch capability information indicates a minimum interval between consecutive beam switches (paragraph 77: The latency indicated by a UE may indication a minimum processing time needed by the UE to perform the beam switch and be able to process a subsequent transmission after the switch. For example, if a downlink control information (DCI) transmission triggers an aperiodic CSI-RS (A-CSI-RS) transmission, the UE may only be able to process the CSI-RS transmission if a scheduling offset indicated in the DCI is greater than the minimum time for a beam switch latency).
Regarding claim 22, Zhou, Zhang and Kung teach the same limitations described above in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 24, Zhou, Zhang and Kung teach the same limitations described above in the rejection of claim 1. Zhou further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication (paragraph 105: If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer readable medium).
Regarding claim 26, Zhou, Zhang and Kung teach the same limitations described above in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claims 28 - 31, Zhou, Zhang and Kung teach the mobile station of claim 1, but Zhou does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more resource indices include a synchronization signal block resource index or a channel state information reference signal resource index.
However, Kung teaches wherein the one or more resource indices include a synchronization signal block resource index or a channel state information reference signal resource index (paragraph 174: A panel entity corresponds to a reported CSI-RS and/or SSB resource index in a beam reporting instance).
In view of this, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhou and Zhang’s mobile station by incorporating the teachings of Kung, for the purpose of indicating a specific capability to enable proper communication.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14 – 19 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RHONDA L MURPHY whose telephone number is (571)272-3185. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00pm.
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/RHONDA L MURPHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462