DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. Claims 1-6, 8-11, 22-27, and 29-32 are pending, wherein claims 1 and 22 are in independent form.
3. Claims 1-3, 6, 10-11, 22-24, 27, and 31-32 have been amended. In view of amendments, rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph are withdrawn.
4. Claims 12, 33-35, 38, and 40-42 have been withdrawn. Claims 7, 13-21, 28, 36-37, 39, and 43-46 have been cancelled.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 22 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1-6, 8-9, 22-27, and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al (US 20220303788, hereinafter referred to as Zhang) in view of Gao et al (US 20230171763, hereinafter referred to as Gao).
Re claim 1, Zhang teaches a method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Abstract), comprising:
(i) receiving, communication. Zhang does not disclose to receive the uplink resource configuration from a first transmission-reception point);
(ii) determining one or more of a first spatial relation or a first path loss reference signal for a single frequency network communication (determining spatial relation and pathloss reference signal) based at least in part on the first active bandwidth part (Corset with lowest ID in active BWP) and the single frequency network configuration (resource configuration for communicating by the UE with multiple TRPs) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053, Par 0056); and
(iii) transmitting the single frequency network communication to the first transmission-reception point and the second transmission-reception point via the first active bandwidth part based at least in part on the first spatial relation or the first path loss reference signal (transmitting UL data to each one of the TRPs based on the determined spatial relation and pathloss reference signal) (Fig. 5-6, Par 0002-0003, Par 0052-0057).
Zhang does not explicitly disclose to receive the uplink resource configuration from a first transmission-reception point.
Gao teaches to receive the uplink resource configuration from a first transmission-reception point (Scheduling DCI from TRP1) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0134-0135, Par 0144-0145, Par 0149).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhang by including the step to receive the uplink resource configuration from a first transmission-reception point, as taught by Gao for the purpose of enabling a UE to perform uplink transmission to multiple Transmission and Reception Points (TRPs) in a cellular communications system, as taught by Gao (Par 0002, Par 0115).
Claim 22 recites an apparatus performing the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Zhang further teaches that the apparatus comprises one or more memories storing processor-executable code (210, Fig. 2); and one or more processors (205, Fig. 2) coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code (Fig. 2, Par 0019-0022).
Re claims 2, 23, Zhang teaches to receive, from the first transmission-reception point, one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for each of a plurality of configured TCI codepoints or control resource sets associated with the first active bandwidth part (CORSET, TCI , CORESET pool index, Fig. 4a-b), each of the plurality of configured TCI codepoints or control resource sets having a respective identification value (TCI state ID/Coreset ID); determine that a first TCI codepoint or a first control resource set having a lowest identification value is mapped to a single TCI state (TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID); and determining one or more of the first spatial relation or the first path loss reference signal based at least in part on the first TCI codepoint or the first control resource set (determining spatial relation and pathloss reference signal based on the TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053, Par 0056).
Re claims 3, 24, Zhang teaches to identify a plurality of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states associated with a plurality of configured TCI codepoints or control resource sets of the first active bandwidth part (CORSET, TCI , CORESET pool index, Fig. 4a-b), wherein each TCI state of the plurality of TCI states has one or more of an associated spatial relation or an associated path loss reference signal; and determining a first TCI state based at least in part on a rule for TCI state selection, wherein the first spatial relation and the first path loss reference signal are associated with the first TCI state (determining spatial relation and pathloss reference signal based on the TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053, Par 0056).
Re claims 4, 25, Zhang teaches that the first TCI state is determined based at least in part on a lowest active TCI codepoint or control resource sets that has only one configured TCI state (determining spatial relation and pathloss reference signal based on the TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053, Par 0056).
Re claims 5, 26, Zhang teaches that the first TCI state is determined based at least in part on one or more of: a fixed selection from a plurality of TCI states (TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID), a relationship between one or more of a UE identification, a configured uplink resource identification, a power control loop identification, or any combinations thereof, a type of reference signal associated with each of the plurality of TCI states, a reference signal received power associated with each of the plurality of TCI states, an expected channel quality associated with each of the plurality of TCI states, or any combinations thereof (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053).
Re claims 6, 27, Zhang teaches that time division multiplexing the single frequency network communication across two or more TCI states (CORSET, TCI, CORESET pool index, Fig. 4a-b) that are configured for a TCI codepoint or control resource set having a lowest associated identification value (TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053).
Re claims 8, 29, Zhang teaches to determining a composite beam based at least in part on a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with the first transmission-reception point (TCI 1) and a second TCI state associated with the second transmission-reception point (TCI2); and determining one or more of the first spatial relation or the first path loss reference signal based at least in part on the composite beam (spatial relation and path loss reference signal are determined based on the TCI1 associated with scheduling CORESET1 and TCI2 associated with scheduling CORESET2) (Fig. 3-4, Par 0029-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046).
Re claims 9, 30, Zhang teaches to determine that a single transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state is associated with a lowest valued TCI codepoint identification or a lowest valued control resource set identification associated with the first active bandwidth part; and determine one or more of the first spatial relation or the first path loss reference signal based at least in part on the single TCI state (determining spatial relation and pathloss reference signal based on the TCI state with lowest ID/TCI state for a CORESET with a lowest ID) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0002, Par 0025, Par 0028-0033, Par 0036-0041, Par 0044-0046, Par 0048-0049, Par 0051-0053, Par 0056).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-11 and 31-32 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473