Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
a. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/26/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-32 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
- claims 1, 18, 26, and 29 are amended
- claims 5, 11, 14, and 17 are canceled
b. This is a first action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 01/09/2026.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1-4, 6-10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18-30, 33, and 34 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Gao does not teach or suggest any indication of an SFN scheme, nor an indication of an SFN scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes. Thus, Gao does not teach or suggest "receiving, via a radio resource control message, a first indication comprising a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes, the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations," as recited in amended independent claim 1.” on page 13, filed on 01/09/2026, with respect to Xu et al. US Pub 2023/0318689, claiming foreign application priority 2020-08-07 (hereinafter “Xu”), in view of Huang et al. US Pub 2019/0320469 (hereinafter “Huang”) and of Park et al. US Pub 2020/0351730 (hereinafter “Park”), and further in view of Gao et al. US Pub 2022/0393809, claiming application priority 2020-02-11 (hereinafter “Gao”), have been fully considered but are moot, over the limitations of “receiving, via a radio resource control message, a first indication comprising a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes, the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations”. Said limitations are newly added to the amended Claims 1, 18, 25, and 29 and have been addressed in instant office action, as shown in section 35 USC 103 rejection below, with newly identified prior art teaching from newly found reference Khoshnevisan et al. US Pub 2021/0259000, claiming provisional application 62976758 priority 2020-02-14 (hereinafter “Khoshnevisan”), in combination with previously applied references Xu, Huang, Park, and Gao, thus rendering said Applicant’s arguments moot.
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 of this title, 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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 1-3, 6-7, 12, 15-16, 18-20, 22-23, 25-27, 29-30, and 33-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. US Pub 2023/0318689, claiming foreign application priority 2020-08-07 (hereinafter “Xu”), in view of Khoshnevisan et al. US Pub 2021/0259000, claiming provisional application 62976758 priority 2020-02-14 (hereinafter “Khoshnevisan”), of Huang et al. US Pub 2019/0320469 (hereinafter “Huang”), of Park et al. US Pub 2020/0351730 (hereinafter “Park”), and further in view of Gao et al. US Pub 2022/0393809, claiming application priority 2020-02-11 (hereinafter “Gao”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Xu discloses a method for wireless communications (“an information indication method, including the following of: generating a control command by a first communication node (i.e. “TRP” [0066]); and transmitting, by the first communication node (i.e. “TRP”), the control command to a second communication node (i.e. “UE”); wherein the control command carries control information, or the control command carries control information and pre-compensation parameter information.” [0006-0009]) at a user equipment (UE) (i.e. “second communication node”), comprising:
receiving, based at least in part on receiving the first indication (“the control command may include at least one of a medium access control control element (MAC CE), a PDCCH DCI and an RRC” [0044]), a downlink control information (DCI) message including at least a first quasi co-location type and a second quasi co-location type (“The QCL reference type is acquired in the following ways: … being configured through RRC, activated by the MAC-CE and indicated by downlink control information (DCI)” [0003]);
determining, based at least in part on the multiple quasi co-location types (“In an example, the PDCCH DCI domain included in the control information may be named PDSCH QCL Enable/Disable, and may be present in the DCI format 0_1 or DCI format1_1 or DCI format2_1. If this field is “1”, the first parameter compensation operation between the first channel and the first signal is enabled, that is, one or more parameters of the average delay, the Doppler shift, the delay spread, the Doppler spread and the spatial Rx parameter are used for the PDSCH according to the configuration.” [0090]) being indicated via the DCI message (“The QCL reference type is acquired in the following ways: … being configured through RRC, activated by the MAC-CE and indicated by downlink control information (DCI)” [0003]) and the transmission scheme (“enabling or disabling, by the second communication node, a first parameter compensation operation between a first channel and a first signal according to the control command” [0012]), that the first quasi co-location type is associated with different quasi co-location parameters than the second quasi co-location type (“the first parameter includes at least one of a Doppler shift, a Doppler spread, a delay spread, an average delay and a spatial Rx parameter, and the pre-compensation parameter information is used to indicate the first parameter.” [0127]),
Xu does not specifically teach receiving, via a radio resource control message, a first indication comprising a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes, the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations, and the UE configured to communicate with a plurality of transmission reception points.
In an analogous art, Khoshnevisan discloses receiving, via a radio resource control message (i.e. ”RRC”), a first indication comprising a parameter (“The base station 402 may define various TCI states, which may be configured for the UE 404 via RRC signaling and activated via MAC-CE and/or DCI signaling.” [0069]) that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme (“FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example of a first non-transparent SFN transmission scheme.” [0069]) of a plurality of SFN schemes (“FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating an example of a second non-transparent SFN transmission scheme.” [0070]), the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals (“The UE 404 may determine a respective QCL 550, 552 based on the respective reference signal 530, 532 and use the respective QCL 550, 552 for receiving the respective PDSCH 540, 542. For non-transparent SFN transmissions, the base station 402 may configure the UE 404 to receive a transmission based on two or more TCI states. As illustrated, a SFN PDSCH 544 may be based on a combination 524 of the first TCI state 520 and the second TCI state 522. The UE 404 may receive the first reference signal 530 and the second reference signal 532. The UE 404 may determine a composite QCL 554 based on the first reference signal 530 and the second reference signal 532. The UE 404 may receive the SFN PDSCH 544 based on the composite QCL 554. In an aspect, the non-transparent SFN transmission may use fewer reference signals than transparent SFN transmission but the UE 404 may perform an additional operation of determining the composite QCL 554.” [0069]) corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations (“As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R.sub.x for one particular configuration, where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam refinement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).” [0054]), and the UE configured to communicate with a plurality of transmission reception points (“The base station 402 may be similar to the base station 402 of FIG. 4 and may include two or more TRPs (e.g., a first TRP 410 and a second TRP 412).” [0069]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, to include Khoshnevisan’s method of signaling parameters for single frequency network (SFN) transmissions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), in order to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability, and other requirements (Khoshnevisan [0006]).
Xu and Khoshnevisan do not specifically teach a downlink control information message that indicates multiple transmission configuration indicator states, wherein the multiple transmission configuration indicator states correspond to multiple quasi co-location types including at least a first quasi co-location type and a second quasi co-location type; determining, based at least in part on the multiple transmission configuration indicator states being indicated via the downlink control information message and the transmission scheme, that the first quasi co-location type is associated with different quasi co-location parameters than the second quasi co-location type, wherein the first quasi co-location type corresponds to an average delay and a delay spread and that the second quasi co-location type corresponds to the average delay, the delay spread, a Doppler shift, and a Doppler spread.
In an analogous art, Huang discloses a downlink control information message that indicates multiple transmission configuration indicator states (“The UE can be configured with up to M TCI-States by higher layer signalling to decode PDSCH according to a detected PDCCH with DCI intended for the UE and the given serving cell, where M depends on the UE capability.” [0118]), wherein the multiple transmission configuration indicator states correspond to multiple quasi co-location types (“Each configured TCI state includes one RS set TCI-RS-SetConfig. Each TCI-RS-SetConfig contains parameters for configuring quasi co-location relationship between the reference signals in the RS set and the DM-RS port group of the PDSCH. The RS set contains a reference to either one or two DL RSs and an associated quasi co-location type (QCL-Type) for each one configured by the higher layer parameter QCL-Type. For the case of two DL RSs, the QCL types shall not be the same, regardless of whether the references are to the same DL RS or different DL RSs.” [0118]) including at least a first quasi co-location type and a second quasi co-location type (“The quasi co-location types indicated to the UE are based on the higher layer parameter QCL-Type and may take one or a combination of the following types: ‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; ‘QCL-TypeB’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; ‘QCL-TypeC’: {average delay, Doppler shift}; ‘QCL-TypeD’: {Spatial Rx parameter}” [0119-0122]);
determining, based at least in part on the multiple transmission configuration indicator states being indicated via the downlink control information message (“The UE receives an activation command [10, TS 38.321] used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’.” [0122]) and the transmission scheme (“Each TCI-RS-SetConfig contains parameters for configuring quasi co-location relationship between the reference signals in the RS set and the DM-RS port group of the PDSCH. The RS set contains a reference to either one or two DL RSs and an associated quasi co-location type (QCL-Type) for each one configured by the higher layer parameter QCL-Type.” [0118]), that the first quasi co-location type is associated with different quasi co-location parameters than the second quasi co-location type (“For the case of two DL RSs, the QCL types shall not be the same, regardless of whether the references are to the same DL RS or different DL RSs.” [0118]), wherein the first quasi co-location type corresponds to an average delay and a delay spread and that the second quasi co-location type corresponds to the average delay, the delay spread (“‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}” [0119]), a Doppler shift, and a Doppler spread (“T ‘QCL-TypeB’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}” [0120]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, to include Huang’s method of transmitting/receiving QCL access information, in order to efficiently support QCL pre-compensation scheme (Huang [0118]).
Xu, Khoshnevisan, and Huang do not specifically teach one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations.
In an analogous art, Park discloses one or more reference signals (e.g. QCL; “In an example, as shown in FIG. 26, the access information may comprise at least one of: a beam index of the first beam (e.g., at least one SSB-Index, at least one CSI-RS-Index); an identifier of a first TRP (e.g., TRP-Index) associated with the first beam and/or the first TA; a group identifier of a first CORESET group (e.g., CORESET-Id and/or CORESET-Group-Id) associated with the first TRP and/or the first TA; an identifier of a first TCI state (e.g., at least one TCI-StateId) associated with the first TRP and/or the first TA; a first QCL type associated with the first TRP and/or the first TA;” [0323]) corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations (“FIG. 26 shows an example information element of the access information indicating the first resources associated with the first beam (e.g., and/or first TRP, first TAG, first CORESET(s), first TCI-state(s), first QCL-type, etc.) and/or the second resources associated with the second beam (e.g., and/or second TRP, second TAG, second CORESET(s), second TCI-state(s), second QCL-type, etc.).” [0321]);
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan and Huang, to include Park’s method of transmitting/receiving QCL access information, in order to efficiently support QCL pre-compensation scheme (Park [0318]).
Xu, Khoshnevisan, Huang, and Park do not specifically teach a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme associated with a reference signal configuration; receiving the one or more reference signals from the plurality of transmission reception points based at least in part on determining that the plurality of transmission reception points are using a pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on the first quasi co-location type, the second quasi co-location type, and the first indication.
In an analogous art, Gao discloses a parameter that indicates single frequency network (SFN) scheme associated with a reference signal configuration (“In an embodiment of adopting the frequency offset configuration between the reference RS (without frequency pre-compensation) and a DL transmission (e.g. PDSCH transmission, or DMRS of PDSCH transmission) (with frequency compensation), a cell-specific TRS, rather than a UE specific TRS, may be enabled in the SFN.” [0219]; see also [0197-0198]);
receiving the one or more reference signals from the plurality of transmission reception points (i.e. “different TRPs”) based at least in part on determining that the plurality of transmission reception points are using a pre-compensation scheme (“the carrier frequency of signaling (e.g. DL signal) transmitting from the other serving TRP (rather than the TRP transmitting the only one reference DL RS with regard to the QCL type parameter comprising the Doppler shift) should be pre-compensated and aligned with the reference DL RS from UE perspective.” [0187]) based at least in part on the first quasi co-location type (i.e. “QCL type parameter”), the second quasi co-location type (“In this embodiment, the carrier frequency of signaling (e.g. DL signal) transmitting from the other serving TRP (rather than the TRP transmitting the only one reference DL RS with regard to the QCL type parameter comprising the Doppler shift) should be pre-compensated and aligned with the reference DL RS from UE perspective. In an embodiment, the DL signal may be associated with a new QCL type parameter including a Doppler spread but does not include the Doppler shift (e.g., QCL-TypeE: {Doppler spread}). In an embodiment, the new QCL type parameter may further comprise at least one of average delay or delay spread. For example, the new QCL type parameter may be QCL-TypeE which represents one of {Doppler spread}, {Doppler spread, average delay}, {Doppler spread, average spread} or {Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}.” [0187] and furthermore (“In this disclosure, there are the following definitions for ‘QCL-TypeA’, ‘QCL-TypeB’, ‘QCL-TypeC’, and ‘QCL-TypeD’. ‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; ‘QCL-TypeB’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; ‘QCL-TypeC’: {Doppler shift, average delay}; ‘QCL-TypeD’: {Spatial Rx parameter}” [0152-0156])), and the SFN scheme (“In an embodiment of adopting the frequency offset configuration between the reference RS (without frequency pre-compensation) and a DL transmission (e.g. PDSCH transmission, or DMRS of PDSCH transmission) (with frequency compensation), a cell-specific TRS, rather than a UE specific TRS, may be enabled in the SFN.” [0219]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, and Park, to include Gao’s method for parameter configuration of frequency modulation, in order to support QCL pre-compensation scheme (Gao [0128]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Gao’s method for parameter configuration of frequency modulation into Xu’s information indication method since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 2
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Gao further discloses determining that one or more transmission reception points of the plurality of transmission reception points are implementing the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on the first quasi co-location type being different from the second quasi co-location type (e.g. “In this disclosure, there are the following definitions for ‘QCL-TypeA’, ‘QCL-TypeB’, ‘QCL-TypeC’, and ‘QCL-TypeD’. ‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; ‘QCL-TypeB’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; ‘QCL-TypeC’: {Doppler shift, average delay}; ‘QCL-TypeD’: {Spatial Rx parameter}” [0152-0156]), the plurality of transmission reception points comprising at least a first transmission reception point and a second transmission reception point (“In FIG. 6, there are two TRPs T0 and T1 (e.g. the RRHs RRH0 and RRH1 shown in FIG. 1) serving a UE in the SFN” [0188]).
Regarding claim 3
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising:
Gao further discloses receiving a first reference signal (i.e. “DL RS RS0”) from the first transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T0”; “In FIG. 6, the TRP T0 transmits a reference DL RS RS0 to the UE and the carrier frequency of the reference DL RS RS0 from the UE perspective (e.g. the carrier frequency of the reference DL RS RS0 received by the UE)” [0189]) and a second reference signal (i.e. “DL RS RS1”) from the second transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T1”; “Similarly, the TRP T1 transmits a reference DL RS RS1 to the UE and the carrier frequency of the reference DL RS RS1 from the UE perspective (e.g. the carrier frequency of the reference DL RS RS1 received by the UE)” [0190]); and
receiving a downlink message (i.e. “DL communication (e.g. DL signal DLS)” in Figs. 4-7) from the first transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T0”) and the second transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T1”) in accordance with the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on receiving the first reference signal and the second reference signal (“FIG. 6 shows an example of a frequency pre-compensation procedure in the SFN according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.” [0129]).
Regarding claim 6
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmission reception points comprises at least a first transmission reception point and a second transmission reception point, the method further comprising:
Gao further discloses receiving a first reference signal (i.e. “DL RS RS0”) from the first transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T0”) and a second reference signal (i.e. “DL RS RS1”) from the second transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T1”);
receiving, via a set of resources (i.e. “PDCCH”, “PDSCH”), a downlink message (““DL signal” (i.e. downlink signal) can be physical DL control channel (PDCCH), physical DL shared channel (PDSCH) or CSI-RS.” [0158]) from the first transmission reception point based at least in part on the first reference signal (“the parameter state comprising the first DL RS is activated for a physical DL control channel, PDCCH, a physical DL shared channel, PDSCH” [0055]); and
receiving, via the set of resources (i.e. “PDCCH”, “PDSCH”), the downlink message (““DL signal” (i.e. downlink signal) can be physical DL control channel (PDCCH), physical DL shared channel (PDSCH) or CSI-RS.” [0158]) from the second transmission reception point based at least in part on the second reference signal (“the parameter state comprising the second DL RS is activated for a physical DL control channel, PDCCH, a physical DL shared channel, PDSCH” [0078]).
Regarding claim 7
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 6, further comprising:
Park further discloses receiving a third reference signal (“random access configuration parameters associated with at least one third beam (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS)”) from the first transmission reception point and the second transmission reception point (“In an example, the at least one third beam may be transmitted by a third TRP (e.g., the third TRP may be one of the first TRP or the second TRP).” [0326]), the downlink message received further based at least in part on the third reference signal (“the access information may comprise random access configuration parameters associated with at least one third beam (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS) (e.g., The at least one third beam may comprise the first beam and/or the second beam) for the wireless device to access the first cell. The random access configuration parameters may comprise at least one of: a beam index; a random access preamble index (e.g., integer value 0 to 63) of a random access preamble; at least one random access occasion (e.g., for CSI-RS); a reference signal received power (RSRP) value (e.g., threshold) indicating a range of received power (e.g., to perform a contention free random access procedure).” [0326]).
Regarding claim 12
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1,
Gao further discloses wherein the parameter indicates an SFN downlink transmission associated with the plurality of beam configurations (“In FIG. 1, several TRPs/RRHs (e.g. RRHs RRH0, RRH1, RRH2 and RRH3) simultaneously transmit a downlink (DL) signal to a UE in the SFN.” [0135]).
Regarding claim 15
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Gao further discloses determining a reference signal mode based at least in part on receiving the first indication, wherein the reference signal mode comprises a distributed tracking reference signal mode or a partially distributed tracking reference signal mode (“Taking into account that the HST passes through the several TRPs/RRHs in an order, a semi-persistent or an aperiodic tracking RS (TRS, also called as CSI-RS for tracking) may be an option. For instance, when the UE gets close to one new TRP, the new TRP may accordingly activate a corresponding TRS and deactivate a previous TRS.” [0168]; “dynamic TRS configuration for frequency tracking” [0206]).
Regarding claim 16
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1,
Park further discloses wherein the plurality of beam configurations comprise a plurality of transmission configuration indicator states (“FIG. 26 shows an example information element of the access information indicating the first resources associated with the first beam (e.g., and/or first TRP, first TAG, first CORESET(s), first TCI-state(s), first QCL-type, etc.) and/or the second resources associated with the second beam (e.g., and/or second TRP, second TAG, second CORESET(s), second TCI-state(s), second QCL-type, etc.).” [0321]).
Regarding claim 18 (Currently Amended)
A method for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) via a radio resource control message, a first indication comprising a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes, the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations, the UE configured to communicate with a plurality of transmission reception points;
transmitting, based at least in part on transmitting the first indication and a pre-compensation scheme to be used to communicate with the UE using the plurality of transmission reception points, a downlink control information (DCI) message that indicates multiple transmission configuration indicator states, wherein the multiple transmission configuration indicator states correspond to multiple quasi co-location types including at least a first quasi co-location type and a second quasi co-location type,
wherein, based at least in part on the multiple transmission configuration indicator states indicated via the DCI message and the SFN scheme, the first quasi co-location type is associated with different quasi co-location parameters than the second quasi co-location type, and wherein the first quasi co-location type corresponds to an average delay and a delay spread and the second quasi co-location type corresponds to the average delay, the delay spread, a Doppler shift, and a Doppler spread; and
transmitting the one or more reference signals according to the first quasi co- location type and the second quasi co-location type.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 18 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 1. Therefore method claim 18 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 19
The method of claim 18, further comprising:
determining to implement the pre-compensation scheme, wherein the first quasi co-location type is different from the second quasi co-location type based at least in part on the pre-compensation scheme being different, the plurality of transmission reception points comprising at least a first transmission reception point and a second transmission reception point.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 19 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in claim 2. Therefore method claim 19 corresponds to method claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 20
The method of claim 19, further comprising:
transmitting a first reference signal from the first transmission reception point different from a second reference signal from the second transmission reception point; and
transmitting a downlink message in accordance with the pre- compensation scheme based at least in part on transmitting the first reference signal.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 20 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in claim 3. Therefore method claim 20 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Regarding claim 22
The method of claim 19, further comprising:
transmitting a first reference signal different from a second reference signal from the second transmission reception point; and
transmitting a downlink message in accordance with the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on transmitting the first reference signal and the second reference sign
The scope and subject matter of method claim 22 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in claim 4. Therefore method claim 22 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 23
The method of claim 18, wherein the plurality of transmission reception points comprises at least a first transmission reception point and a second transmission reception point, the method further comprising:
transmitting a first reference signal from the first transmission reception point different from a second reference signal from the second transmission reception point; and
transmitting, via a set of resources, a downlink message to the UE based at least in part on transmitting the first reference signal.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 23 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in claim 6. Therefore method claim 23 corresponds to method claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 6 rejection above.
Regarding claim 25 (Currently Amended)
Xu discloses a user equipment (UE) (i.e. “The second communication node may be a terminal, a user equipment, etc.” in Fig. 12; [0114]) for wireless communications, comprising:
memory (“memory 1402” in Fig. 14; [0137]); and
one or more processors (“processor 1401” in Fig. 14; [0137]) coupled with the memory and configured to cause the UE to:
receive, via a radio resource control message, a first indication comprising a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes, the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations, the UE configured to communicate with a plurality of transmission reception points;
receive, based at least in part on receiving the first indication, a downlink control information (DCI) message that indicates multiple transmission configuration indicator states, wherein the multiple transmission configuration indicator states correspond to multiple quasi co-location types including at least a first quasi co-location type and a second quasi co-location type;
determine, based at least in part on the multiple transmission configuration indicator states being indicated via the DCI message and the SFN scheme, that the first quasi co-location type is associated with different quasi co-location parameters than the second quasi co-location type, wherein the first quasi co-location type corresponds to an average delay and a delay spread and that the second quasi co-location type corresponds to the average delay, the delay spread, a Doppler shift, and a Doppler spread; and
receive the one or more reference signals from the plurality of transmission reception points based at least in part on determining that the plurality of transmission reception points are using a pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on the first quasi co-location type and the second quasi co-location type and the SFN scheme.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 25 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 25 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 26
The UE of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
determine that one or more transmission reception points of the plurality of transmission reception points are implementing the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on the first quasi co-location type being different from the second quasi co-location type.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 26 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 2. Therefore apparatus claim 26 corresponds to method claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 27
The UE of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
receive a first reference signal from a first transmission reception point and a second reference signal from a second transmission reception point; and
receive a downlink message from the first transmission reception point and the second transmission reception point in accordance with the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on receiving the first reference signal and the second reference signal.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 27 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 27 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Regarding claim 29 (Currently Amended)
Xu discloses a base station (i.e. “a first communication node (e.g., a base station or other network devices)” in Fig. 14; [0093]) for wireless communications, comprising:
memory (“memory 1402” in Fig. 14; [0137]); and
one or more processors (“processor 1401” in Fig. 14; [0137]) coupled with the memory and configured to cause the base station to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE) via a radio resource control message, a first indication comprising a parameter that indicates a single frequency network (SFN) scheme of a plurality of SFN schemes, the SFN scheme associated with a reference signal configuration for one or more reference signals corresponding to a plurality of beam configurations, the UE configured to communicate with a plurality of transmission reception points;
transmit, based at least in part on transmitting the first indication and a pre-compensation scheme to be used to communicate with the UE using the plurality of transmission reception points, a downlink control information (DCI) message that indicates multiple transmission configuration indicator states, wherein the multiple transmission configuration indicator states correspond to multiple quasi co-location types including at least a first quasi co-location type and a second quasi co-location type,
wherein, based at least in part on the multiple transmission configuration indicator states indicated via the DCI message and the SFN scheme, the first quasi co-location type is associated with different quasi co-location parameters than the second quasi co-location type, and wherein the first quasi co- location type corresponds to an average delay and a delay spread and the second quasi co-location type corresponds to the average delay, the delay spread, a Doppler shift, and a Doppler spread; and
transmit the one or more reference signals according to the first quasi co- location type and the second quasi co-location type.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 29 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 18. Therefore apparatus claim 29 corresponds to method claim 18 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 18 rejection above.
Regarding claim 30
The base station of claim 29, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the base station to: determine to implement the pre-compensation scheme, wherein the first quasi co-location type is different from the second quasi co-location type based at least in part on the pre-compensation scheme being different, the plurality of transmission reception points comprising at least a first transmission reception point and a second transmission reception point.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 30 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 19. Therefore apparatus claim 30 corresponds to method claim 19 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 19 rejection above.
Claims 4, 8, 21, 24, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu, in view of Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, and further in view of Guo et al. US Pub 2018/0083680 (hereinafter “Guo”)
Regarding claim 4
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising:
Gao further discloses receiving a first reference signal (i.e. “DL RS RS0”) from the first transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T0”);
receiving a second reference signal (i.e. “DL RS RS1”) from the second transmission reception point (i.e. “TRP T1”); and
receiving a downlink message (i.e. “DL communication (e.g. DL signal DLS)” in Figs. 4-7) from the first transmission reception point and the second transmission reception point in accordance with the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on receiving the first reference signal, the second reference signal, or both (“FIG. 6 shows an example of a frequency pre-compensation procedure in the SFN according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.” [0129]).
Xu, Park, and Gao do not specifically teach the first and second TRP sending the same reference signal (i.e. RS resource).
In an analogous art, Guo discloses receiving a first reference signal (i.e. “RS resource”) from the first transmission reception point and the first reference signal from the second transmission reception point (In case multiple TRPs belong to same grouping, they can send out same RS sources “In some embodiments, an RRC message, a MAC CE or a DCI signaling may indicate a combination of the following information for an RS resource: a first information (e.g., a QCL reference resource); or a second information (e.g., a group of QCL resources for which a UE may use the same set of QCL parameters for demodulation or for beam/CSI measurements as those measured by the QCL reference resource).” [0230]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, to include Guo’s method for a beam management in a wireless communication system, in order to support higher data rates beyond 4th-Generation (4G) communication system (Guo [0004]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Guo’s method for a beam management in a wireless communication system into Xu’s information indication method since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 8
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Park further discloses identifying an anchor transmission reception point from the plurality of transmission reception points based at least in part on a second indication of the anchor transmission reception point included in a configuration of the plurality of beam configurations (“The access information may indicate a TA for at least one of: one or more beams, a TRP, a TAG, a CORESET, a CORESET group, at least one TCI state, at least one QCL, at least one QCL type, and/or the like.” [0318]), , a fourth indication to refrain from using a parameter of the beam configuration (“a network (e.g., a base station) may provide multiple TAs (e.g., and/or at least one beam/beam-group/TRP/TAG/CORESET/CORESET-group/TCI-state specific TA) for a wireless device that accesses a cell using multiple TRPs. Each of the multiple TAs (e.g., and/or the at least one beam/beam-group/TRP/TAG/CORESET/CORESET-group/TCI-state specific TA) may be associated with one or more beams, a TRP, a timing advance group (TAG), and/or the like. The wireless device may use one of the multiple TAs to access the cell, depending on which downlink beam (e.g., TRP and/or TAG) is selected for the access.” [0304]), or any combination thereof.
In an analogous art, Guo discloses a beam configuration with a lowest index (“BSI refers to at least one of: (1) beam index that can be derived from CSI-RS port index, beam resource index/time unit index and B-CSI-RS resource index; and (2) RSRP and/or RSRQ of the reported beam.” [0210]),
a third indication in a medium access control (MAC) control element (“the TRP could use signal in MAC-CE or L1 signaling (e.g., DCI) to indicate the UE to report the beam state information in nrPUSCH.” [0128]),
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, to include Guo’s method for a beam management in a wireless communication system, in order to support higher data rates beyond 4th-Generation (4G) communication system (Guo [0004]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Guo’s method for a beam management in a wireless communication system into Xu’s information indication method since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 21
The method of claim 19, further comprising:
transmitting a first reference signal; and
transmitting a downlink message in accordance with the pre- compensation scheme based at least in part on transmitting the first reference signal.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 21 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in claim 4. Therefore method claim 21 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 24
The method of claim 18, wherein a transmission reception point of the plurality of transmission reception points comprises an anchor transmission reception point, further comprising: transmitting, to the UE, a second indication of the anchor transmission reception point included in a configuration of the plurality of beam configurations, a third indication in a medium access control (MAC) control element command message, a fourth indication to refrain from using a parameter of a beam configuration, or any combination thereof.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 24 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in claim 8. Therefore method claim 24 corresponds to method claim 8 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 8 rejection above.
Regarding claim 28
The UE of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to:
receive a first reference signal from a first transmission reception point and the first reference signal from a second transmission reception point;
receive a second reference signal from the first transmission reception point or the second transmission reception point; and
receive a downlink message from the first transmission reception point and the second transmission reception point in accordance with the pre-compensation scheme based at least in part on receiving the first reference signal, the second reference signal, or both.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 28 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 4. Therefore apparatus claim 28 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Claims 9, 10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu, in view of Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, and further in view of Ji et al. US Pub 2022/0123891, claiming foreign application priority 2020-10-15 (hereinafter “Ji”).
Regarding claim 9
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Xu, Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao do not specifically teach determining the average delay and the delay spread based at least in part on determining whether one or more transmission reception points of the plurality of transmission reception points are implementing the pre-compensation scheme and the one or more reference signals.
In an analogous art, Ji discloses determining the average delay and the delay spread based at least in part on determining whether one or more transmission reception points of the plurality of transmission reception points are implementing the pre-compensation scheme and the one or more reference signals (“The base station may transmit the pre-compensated TRS T3 and T4 (21-21 and 21-22) to the terminal, apart from the non-pre-compensated TRS T1 and T2 (21-01 and 21-02) transmitted to the terminal in the first operation of Example 1. At this time, T3 and T4 may be separate TRS resources transmitted in each TRP, or may be transmitted in the form of SFN for the same TRS resource in each TRP. The base station may notify whether the Doppler shift of the TRS is compensated in advance in order to reduce the TRS reception complexity of the terminal. The pre-compensated TRS may share specific channel characteristics with the non-pre-compensated TRS (e.g., share at least one of average delay, delay spread, Doppler spread, and Spatial Rx parameters), but may have a specific non-shared channel characteristic (e.g., Doppler shift). Therefore, the base station may inform the terminal that the TRS has been pre-compensated and the channel characteristics for measuring the TRS by indicating the QCL relationship (21-11, 21-12) for the non-pre-compensated TRS and the shared channel characteristic with respect to the pre-compensated TRS.” [0386]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, to include Ji’s method for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system, in order to determine quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between the tracking reference signal and a downlink channel (Ji [0009]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ji’s method for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system into Xu’s information indication method since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 10
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Xu, Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao do not specifically teach determining the Doppler shift and the Doppler spread from a reference signal of an anchor transmission reception point based at least in part on determining whether one or more transmission reception points of the plurality of transmission reception points are implementing the pre-compensation scheme and the one or more reference signals.
In an analogous art, Ji discloses determining the Doppler shift and the Doppler spread from a reference signal of an anchor transmission reception point based at least in part on determining whether one or more transmission reception points of the plurality of transmission reception points are implementing the pre-compensation scheme and the one or more reference signals (“The base station may transmit the pre-compensated TRS T3 and T4 (21-21 and 21-22) to the terminal, apart from the non-pre-compensated TRS T1 and T2 (21-01 and 21-02) transmitted to the terminal in the first operation of Example 1. At this time, T3 and T4 may be separate TRS resources transmitted in each TRP, or may be transmitted in the form of SFN for the same TRS resource in each TRP. The base station may notify whether the Doppler shift of the TRS is compensated in advance in order to reduce the TRS reception complexity of the terminal. The pre-compensated TRS may share specific channel characteristics with the non-pre-compensated TRS (e.g., share at least one of average delay, delay spread, Doppler spread, and Spatial Rx parameters), but may have a specific non-shared channel characteristic (e.g., Doppler shift). Therefore, the base station may inform the terminal that the TRS has been pre-compensated and the channel characteristics for measuring the TRS by indicating the QCL relationship (21-11, 21-12) for the non-pre-compensated TRS and the shared channel characteristic with respect to the pre-compensated TRS.” [0386]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, to include Ji’s method for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system, in order to determine quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between the tracking reference signal and a downlink channel (Ji [0009]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ji’s method for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system into Xu’s information indication method since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 13
Xu, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao, previously discloses the method of claim 12,
Xu further discloses wherein the parameter is configured as part of a physical downlink control channel (i.e. PDCCH) control resource set configuration (i.e. “CORESET”), or a combination thereof (“Or one MAC CE may be specific to the operation of the PDCCH QCL of a specific CORESET” [0098]).
Xu, Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park, and Gao do not specifically teach wherein the parameter is configured as part of a physical downlink shared channel configuration.
In an analogous art, Ji discloses wherein the parameter is configured as part of a physical downlink shared channel configuration (“Referring to FIG. 6, if the terminal is configured to use only resource type 0 through higher layer signaling (6-00), some downlink control information (DCI) for allocating a PDSCH” [0168]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Xu’s information indication method, as modified by Khoshnevisan, Huang, Park and Gao, to include Ji’s method for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system, in order to determine quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between the tracking reference signal and a downlink channel (Ji [0009]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ji’s method for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system into Xu’s information indication method since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411