DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed January 9, 2026 regarding amendments to claims 1, 5 and new claim 24 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the prior art or record does not disclose determining one specific TCI state with a lowest TCI state identify number from a plurality of TCI states which is activate for a specific CORESET associated with a monitored search space, the CORESET comprises a lowest CORESET identify number in a latest slot within the active BWP of the serving cell monitored by the UE.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2021/0227526), relied upon in the non-final rejection dated October 9, 2025, discloses these limitations in paragraphs 134-135. As cited in the that non-final rejection section 6.c.ii, Khoshnevisan et al., at paragraph 134, disclose determining one specific TCI from a plurality of TCI states which is activated for a specific CORESET associated with a monitored search space, the CORESET comprises a lowest CORESET identify number in a latest slot within the active BWP of the serving cell monitored by the UE. Here, Khoshnevisan et al. disclose that one or all of the activated TCI states may be used for PDSCH transmission. In paragraph 135, Khoshnevisan et al. disclose that if only one of the activated TCI states is to be used for PDSCH transmission, the TCI state that is selected is associated with a lowest TCI state ID.
Further regarding new claim 24, Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2021/0410145, relied upon in the October 9, 2025 non-final rejection as Khoshnevisan II) disclose the claimed invention at paragraphs 78-79.
* The detailed rejection to follow is updated to reflect claim amendments.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 16 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2021/0227526) in view of Gao et al. (US 2023/0198721).
Regarding claim 1, Khoshnevisan et al. disclose
a method of a user equipment (UE) (Paragraph 39, A method for wireless communications at a UE is described), comprising:
determining at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or an aperiodic channel state information reference signal (AP CSI-RS) (Paragraph 39, receiving, from a base station, a configuration message indicating that a CORESET is associated with a set of multiple activated TCI states, receiving a physical downlink control transmission over the CORESET in accordance with the configuration message, the physical downlink control transmission including scheduling information for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, identifying, based on an absence of a TCI field included in the scheduling information that indicates a TCI state for the PDSCH transmission, at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission), wherein multiple TCI states are activated for at least one control resource set (CORESET) (Paragraph 39, a CORESET is associated with a set of multiple activated TCI states…at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission) in an active bandwidth part (BWP) in serving cell (Paragraph 98, active bandwidth part (BWP) of the base station); and
a time offset between a reception of a downlink control information (DCI) and a PDSCH corresponding to the DCI (Paragraph 98, a scheduling offset associated with the PDSCH transmission and indicated within the PDCCH transmission may be less than a time duration for QCL; Paragraph 134, indicated scheduling offset is less than a time duration for QCL (e.g., a timeDurationForQCL));
wherein in response to the time offset being less than a threshold (Paragraph 98, may be less than a time duration for QCL; Paragraph 134, indicated scheduling offset is less than a time duration for QCL (e.g., a timeDurationForQCL)), and determining the at least one TCI state for receiving the PDSCH comprises:
determining one specific TCI state with a lowest TCI state identity number from a plurality of TCI states which is activated for a specific CORESET (Paragraph 134 and similarly paragraph 98+, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine which TCI states to use for the PDSCH transmission 220…because the indicated scheduling offset is less than a time duration for QCL (e.g., a timeDurationForQCL). Here, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine the activated TCI states associated with the PDSCH transmission 220 based on a default QCL assumption for the PDSCH transmission 220. The default QCL assumption may be a QCL relationship or TCI state of the CORESET…; Paragraph 135, If only one of the activated TCI states is to be used for the PDSCH transmission 220, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine which of the more than one activated TCI states to use for the PDSCH transmission 220. For example, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may select the TCI state (e.g., from the activated TCI states used for the CORESET) associated with a lowest TCI state ID. That is, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may compare the TCI state IDs of each of the activated TCI states to determine which TCI state is associated with the lowest TCI state), which is associated with a monitored search space, the CORESET comprises a lowest CORESET identify number in a latest slot within the active BWP of the serving cell monitored by the UE (Paragraphs 98 and 134, … associated with a monitored search space with a lowest CORESET ID in the latest slot in which one or more CORESETs within the active BWP of the base station are monitored by the UE).
Khoshnevisan et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Gao et al.: calculating the time offset between the reception of the DCI and the PDSCH corresponding to the DCI (Gao et al., Paragraphs 69, 189, time offset between a downlink DCI scheduling the PDSCH and the PDSCH is less than a threshold; Paragraph 145, Embodiments of the present disclosure also enable a UE to determine a unique time offset between a detected PDCCH and its scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH in case of PDCCH repetition regardless of where the PDCCH is successfully decoded; Paragraph 182, The time offset between the reception of the DCI and the corresponding PDSCH (or PUSCH, aperiodic CSI-RS, SRS, etc.) can be determined as the number of OFDM symbols between the last symbol of the CORESET and the first symbol of the corresponding PDSCH (or PUSCH, aperiodic CSI-RS, SRS, etc.)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khoshnevisan et al. with the cited disclosure from Gao et al. in order to determine a unique time offset between PDCCH reception and its scheduled PDSCH (Gao et al., Paragraph 145).
Regarding claim 2, Khoshnevisan et al. disclose wherein the at least one TCI state is determined for receiving the PDSCH (Paragraph 39, identifying, based on an absence of a TCI field included in the scheduling information that indicates a TCI state for the PDSCH transmission, at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission).
Regarding claim 16, Khoshnevisan et al. disclose wherein the at least one TCI state is determined for receiving the PDSCH (Paragraph 187, …identify…at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission…).
Regarding claim 23, Khoshnevisan et al. disclose a user equipment (UE) (Paragraph 39, UE; Figure 9 and paragraph 192, device 905 as UE) comprising:
at least one memory (Figure 9, memory 930); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Figure 9, memory 930 coupled to processor 940 via bus 945), and configured to cause the UE to:
determine at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or an aperiodic channel state information reference signal (AP CSI-RS) (Paragraph 39, receiving, from a base station, a configuration message indicating that a CORESET is associated with a set of multiple activated TCI states, receiving a physical downlink control transmission over the CORESET in accordance with the configuration message, the physical downlink control transmission including scheduling information for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, identifying, based on an absence of a TCI field included in the scheduling information that indicates a TCI state for the PDSCH transmission, at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission), wherein multiple TCI states are activated for at least one control resource set (CORESET) (Paragraph 39, a CORESET is associated with a set of multiple activated TCI states…at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission) in an active bandwidth part (BWP) in serving cell (Paragraph 98, active bandwidth part (BWP) of the base station); and
a time offset between a reception of a downlink control information (DCI) and a PDSCH corresponding to the DCI (Paragraph 98, a scheduling offset associated with the PDSCH transmission and indicated within the PDCCH transmission may be less than a time duration for QCL; Paragraph 134, indicated scheduling offset is less than a time duration for QCL (e.g., a timeDurationForQCL));
wherein in response to the time offset being less than a threshold (Paragraph 98, may be less than a time duration for QCL; Paragraph 134, indicated scheduling offset is less than a time duration for QCL (e.g., a timeDurationForQCL)), and determining the at least one TCI state for receiving the PDSCH comprises:
determining one specific TCI state with a lowest TCI state identity number from a plurality of TCI states which is activated for a specific CORESET (Paragraph 134 and similarly paragraph 98+, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine which TCI states to use for the PDSCH transmission 220…because the indicated scheduling offset is less than a time duration for QCL (e.g., a timeDurationForQCL). Here, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine the activated TCI states associated with the PDSCH transmission 220 based on a default QCL assumption for the PDSCH transmission 220. The default QCL assumption may be a QCL relationship or TCI state of the CORESET…; Paragraph 135, If only one of the activated TCI states is to be used for the PDSCH transmission 220, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine which of the more than one activated TCI states to use for the PDSCH transmission 220. For example, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may select the TCI state (e.g., from the activated TCI states used for the CORESET) associated with a lowest TCI state ID. That is, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may compare the TCI state IDs of each of the activated TCI states to determine which TCI state is associated with the lowest TCI state), which is associated with a monitored search space, the specific CORESET comprises a lowest identify number in latest slot within the active BWP of the serving cell monitored by the UE (Paragraphs 98 and 134, … associated with a monitored search space with a lowest CORESET ID in the latest slot in which one or more CORESETs within the active BWP of the base station are monitored by the UE).
Khoshnevisan et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Gao et al.: calculating the time offset between the reception of the DCI and the PDSCH corresponding to the DCI (Gao et al., Paragraphs 69, 189, time offset between a downlink DCI scheduling the PDSCH and the PDSCH is less than a threshold; Paragraph 145, Embodiments of the present disclosure also enable a UE to determine a unique time offset between a detected PDCCH and its scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH in case of PDCCH repetition regardless of where the PDCCH is successfully decoded; Paragraph 182, The time offset between the reception of the DCI and the corresponding PDSCH (or PUSCH, aperiodic CSI-RS, SRS, etc.) can be determined as the number of OFDM symbols between the last symbol of the CORESET and the first symbol of the corresponding PDSCH (or PUSCH, aperiodic CSI-RS, SRS, etc.)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khoshnevisan et al. with the cited disclosure from Gao et al. in order to determine a unique time offset between PDCCH reception and its scheduled PDSCH (Gao et al., Paragraph 145).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 4, 10-11 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2021/0410145) hereinafter referred to as Khoshnevisan II.
Regarding claim 4, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Khoshnevisan II: wherein the UE is not configured with a parameter which indicates the UE to apply two default TCI states of single-DCI based multi- transmission reception point (TRP) transmission (Khoshnevisan II, Paragraph 78, when the mapping of TCI identifiers to TCI state(s) does not include a TCI identifier mapped to a plurality of (e.g., two) TCI states and/or the UE 120 is not configured to use a plurality of (e.g., two) default TCI states/a plurality of (e.g., two) default beams (e.g., the UE 120 is not configured with the RRC parameter enableTwoDefaultTCIStates); Paragraphs 79 and 82, single-DCI, multi-TRP scheme), or the UE is configured with the parameter and no TCI codepoint activated to the UE for PDSCH maps to two TCI states.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al. and Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Khoshnevisan II in order to allow a UE to determine a TCI state for PDSCH reception regardless of parameter indication (Khoshnevisan II, Paragraph 61, configured to use two default TCI states; Paragraph 78, not configured to use two default states).
Regarding claim 10, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as wherein the at least one TCI state is determined for receiving the PDSCH (Khoshnevisan et al., Paragraph 187, …identify…at least one TCI state of the set of activated TCI states to apply to a reception of the PDSCH transmission…).
Khoshnevisan et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Khoshnevisan II: wherein a format of the DCI is without TCI field (Khoshnevisan II, Paragraph 58, In some cases, a TCI field is not present in the DCI. In such cases, a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI may follow the same TCI state as the TCI state of the CORESET in which the DCI is received. This technique may be used when the scheduling offset between reception of the DCI and the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI satisfies the threshold time duration, as described above. If the scheduling offset does not satisfy the threshold time duration, then the UE 120 may use a default QCL assumption (e.g., for QCL-TypeD). A default QCL assumption for the PDSCH may be associated with QCL information and/or a TCI state of a CORESET).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al. and Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Khoshnevisan II in order to allow a UE to determine TCI states for PDSCH reception (Khoshnevisan II, Paragraphs 60-61).
Regarding claim 11, Khoshnevisan II discloses wherein the format of the DCI being without TCI field is configured by having no TCI present parameter for a specific CORESET used for transmitting the DCI (Paragraph 58, In some cases, a TCI field is not present in the DCI. In such cases, a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI may follow the same TCI state as the TCI state of the CORESET in which the DCI is received. This technique may be used when the scheduling offset between reception of the DCI and the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI satisfies the threshold time duration, as described above. If the scheduling offset does not satisfy the threshold time duration, then the UE 120 may use a default QCL assumption (e.g., for QCL-TypeD). A default QCL assumption for the PDSCH may be associated with QCL information and/or a TCI state of a CORESET), at least one TCI present parameter is configured for another CORESET configured in the active BWP of the serving cell, and the UE is configured with a parameter which indicates the UE to apply two default TCI states and at least one TCI codepoint activated to the UE for PDSCH maps to two TCI states (Paragraph 61, if at least one TCI identifier (e.g., TCI codepoint) maps to two TCI states, the UE 120 is capable of using two default QCL assumptions, and the UE 120 is configured to use two default TCI states (e.g., the UE 120 is configured with the RRC parameter enableTwoDefaultTCIStates), then default QCL assumptions for the PDSCH are TCI states mapped to the lowest TCI identifier of TCI identifiers that maps to two TCI states).
Regarding claim 24, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as wherein in response to the time offset is being less than a threshold, and determining the at least one TCI state for receiving the PDSCH comprises determining the one specific state with the lowest TCI state identity number from the plurality of TCI states which is activated for the specific CORESET is in response to the time offset being less than the threshold (See rejection of claim 1 above for Khoshnevisan et al., Paragraphs 134-135)
Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Khoshnevisan II: the UE not being configured with a parameter which indicates the UE is to apply two default TCI states of a single-DCI based multi- transmission reception point (TRP) transmission or the time offset being less than the threshold and the UE is configured with the parameter and no TCI codepoint is activated to the UE for PDSCH maps to two TCI states, determining the at least one TCI state for receiving the PDSCH comprises determining one specific TCI state with a lowest TCI state identity number from a plurality of TCI states which is activated for the specific CORESET (Khoshnevisan II, Paragraphs 78-79, In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine that the single default beam is to be used for receiving SPS transmissions in the one or more first SPS occasions when the mapping of TCI identifiers to TCI state(s) does not include a TCI identifier mapped to a plurality of (e.g., two) TCI states and/or the UE 120 is not configured to use a plurality of (e.g., two) default TCI states/a plurality of (e.g., two) default beams (e.g., the UE 120 is not configured with the RRC parameter enableTwoDefaultTCIStates…In some aspects, the UE 120 may use a plurality of (e.g., two) default beams to receive SPS transmissions in the one or more first SPS occasions. The plurality of default beams may be associated with a plurality of (e.g., two) default TCI states that are associated with a lowest TCI identifier (e.g., a lowest TCI codepoint) of TCI identifiers that map to a plurality of (e.g., two) different TCI states. In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine that the plurality of default beams are to be used for receiving SPS transmissions in the one or more first SPS occasions when at least one TCI identifier is mapped to a plurality of (e.g., two) TCI states and/or the UE 120 is configured to use a plurality of default TCI states/a plurality of default beams (e.g., the UE 120 is configured with the RRC parameter enableTwoDefaultTCIStates). The UE 120 may use the plurality of default beams for receiving SPS transmissions in connection with a single-DCI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al. and Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Khoshnevisan II in order to allow a UE to determine TCI states for PDSCH reception (Khoshnevisan II, Paragraphs 60-61).
Claim(s) 5 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2021/0258964) hereinafter referred to as Khoshnevisan III.
Regarding claim 5, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as wherein the at least one TCI state is determined for receiving the AP CSI-RS (Gao et al., Paragraph 22-23, TCI state for CSI-RSs; Paragraph 182, aperiodic CSI-RS); and the method further comprises:
calculating an offset between last symbol of last PDCCH and first symbol of AP CSI-RS resource, wherein the last PDCCH carries a DCI for triggering AP CSI-RS transmission (Gao et al., Paragraph 182, The time offset between the reception of the DCI and the corresponding PDSCH (or PUSCH, aperiodic CSI-RS, SRS, etc.) can be determined as the number of OFDM symbols between the last symbol of the CORESET and the first symbol of the corresponding PDSCH (or PUSCH, aperiodic CSI-RS, SRS, etc.));
wherein the offset is less than a threshold (Gao et al., Paragraph 189, when the offset between the reception of a DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than a threshold timeDurationForQCL), and determining the at least one TCI state for receiving the AP CSI-RS comprises:
determining one specific TCI state with a lowest TCI state identity number from a plurality of TCI states which is activated for a specific CORESET associated with a monitored search space, the CORESET comprises a lowest identify number in a latest slot within the active BWP of the serving cell monitored by the UE (Gao et al., Paragraph 189, the UE 812 may assume that the DM-RS ports of PDSCH of a serving cell are quasi co-located with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) used for PDCCH quasi co-location indication in the first activated TCI state of the CORESET with the lowest CORESET-ID in the latest slot in which one or more CORESETs within the active BWP of the serving cell are monitored by the UE; Khoshnevisan et al., Paragraphs134-135, If only one of the activated TCI states is to be used for the PDSCH transmission 220, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may determine which of the more than one activated TCI states to use for the PDSCH transmission 220. For example, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may select the TCI state (e.g., from the activated TCI states used for the CORESET) associated with a lowest TCI state ID. That is, the UE 115-a and base station 105-a may compare the TCI state IDs of each of the activated TCI states to determine which TCI state is associated with the lowest TCI state).
Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Khoshnevisan III: the AP CSI-RS resource is in a non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP-CSI-RS) resource set configured without a parameter of tracking reference information (Khoshnevisan III, Paragraph 118, …in a NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet configured without higher layer parameter trs-Info and without the higher layer parameter repetition…);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al. and Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Khoshnevisan III in order to provide improved and desirable quasi-colocation (QCL) assumption for aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) reference signal (RS) configured with multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) (Khoshnevisan III, Paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 7, Khoshnevisan III discloses wherein in the same symbols of the AP CSI-RS resources are without any other downlink signal, which refers to a PDSCH scheduled with a time offset larger than or equal to another threshold, having an indicated TCI state (Paragraph 116, 129, 161, 179, 219, …the UE 702 determines there are no other downlink (DL) signals in the same symbol(s) as the A-CSI-RS, then the UE 702 applies a default QCL assumption for the A-CSI-RS, at 714b).
Claim(s) 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. Gao et al. in view of Khoshnevisan II as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Frenne et al. (US 2023/0042806).
Regarding claim 14, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. in view of Khoshnevisan II disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Frenne et al.: wherein the UE is configured by a parameter as first frequency division multiplexing scheme or second frequency division multiplexing scheme (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, FDM Scheme 2a and 2b), DM-RS ports are indicated within a CDM group (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, the DM-RS ports are from one CDM group only) and precoding granularity is determined as wideband (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, When PRG size is configured as wideband…; Paragraph 84, …divided into odd and even PRGs (except in the case of wideband PRG, in which case two continuous chunks or RBs are used per TRP)), and the method further comprises:
determining that first nPRB/2 physical resource blocks (PRBs) correspond to a first TCI state and remaining nPRB/2 PRBs correspond to a second TCI state (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, the first half of the scheduled bandwidth for PDSCH may be assigned to TCI state #1 (i.e. TRP1) and second half of the scheduled bandwidth for PDSCH may be assigned to TCI state #2 (i.e., TRP2)), where nPRB is the total number of allocated PRBs for the UE (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, The scheduled bandwidth can be divided into odd and even groups of adjacent RBs, known as precoding resource block groups (PRGs). For example TRP1 may be using odd PRGs and TRP2 may be using even PRGs (or vice versa). In specification language, TCI state #1/#2 is associated with reception in even/odd PRGs respectively. The PRG size can be 2 or 4 resource blocks (RBs) where a RB consists of 12 subcarriers. One exception is that PRG size can also be configured as wideband).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al., Gao et al. and Khoshnevisan II with the cited disclosure from Frenne et al. in order to assign PT-RS density for multi-TRP transmissions leading to enhanced performance when receiving PDSCH from different TRPs (Frenne et al., Paragraph 83).
Regarding claim 15, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. in view of Khoshnevisan II disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Frenne et al.: wherein the UE is configured by a parameter as first frequency division multiplexing scheme or second frequency division multiplexing scheme (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, FDM Scheme 2a and 2b), DM-RS ports are indicated within a CDM group (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, the DM-RS ports are from one CDM group only) and P’BWP.i is determined as one of values among {2, 4} (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, The PRG size can be 2 or 4 resource blocks (RBs) where a RB consists of 12 subcarriers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al., Gao et al. and Khoshnevisan II with the cited disclosure from Frenne et al. in order to assign PT-RS density for multi-TRP transmissions leading to enhanced performance when receiving PDSCH from different TRPs (Frenne et al., Paragraph 83).
Claim(s) 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan et al. as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Frenne et al. (US 2023/0042806).
Regarding claim 19, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Frenne et al.: wherein the UE is configured by a parameter as first frequency division multiplexing scheme or second frequency division multiplexing scheme (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, FDM Scheme 2a and 2b), DM-RS ports are indicated within a CDM group (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, the DM-RS ports are from one CDM group only) and precoding granularity is determined as wideband (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, When PRG size is configured as wideband…; Paragraph 84, …divided into odd and even PRGs (except in the case of wideband PRG, in which case two continuous chunks or RBs are used per TRP)), and the method further comprises:
determining that first nPRB/2 physical resource blocks (PRBs) correspond to a first TCI state and remaining nPRB/2 PRBs correspond to a second TCI state (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, the first half of the scheduled bandwidth for PDSCH may be assigned to TCI state #1 (i.e. TRP1) and second half of the scheduled bandwidth for PDSCH may be assigned to TCI state #2 (i.e., TRP2)), where nPRB is the total number of allocated PRBs for the UE (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, The scheduled bandwidth can be divided into odd and even groups of adjacent RBs, known as precoding resource block groups (PRGs). For example TRP1 may be using odd PRGs and TRP2 may be using even PRGs (or vice versa). In specification language, TCI state #1/#2 is associated with reception in even/odd PRGs respectively. The PRG size can be 2 or 4 resource blocks (RBs) where a RB consists of 12 subcarriers. One exception is that PRG size can also be configured as wideband).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al. and Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Frenne et al. in order to assign PT-RS density for multi-TRP transmissions leading to enhanced performance when receiving PDSCH from different TRPs (Frenne et al., Paragraph 83).
Regarding claim 20, Khoshnevisan et al. in view of Gao et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Frenne et al.: wherein the UE is configured by a parameter as first frequency division multiplexing scheme or second frequency division multiplexing scheme (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, FDM Scheme 2a and 2b), DM-RS ports are indicated within a CDM group (Frenne et al., Paragraph 84, the DM-RS ports are from one CDM group only) and P’BWP.i is determined as one of values among {2, 4} (Frenne et al., Paragraph 79, The PRG size can be 2 or 4 resource blocks (RBs) where a RB consists of 12 subcarriers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Khoshnevisan et al. and Gao et al. with the cited disclosure from Frenne et al. in order to assign PT-RS density for multi-TRP transmissions leading to enhanced performance when receiving PDSCH from different TRPs (Frenne et al., Paragraph 83).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12, 13, 17 and 18 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: regarding claims 12 and 17, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest that when an entry in a PDSCH time domain allocation list does not contain a repetition number of PDSCH transmission, determining that a first TCI state corresponds to one CDM group and that a second TCI state corresponds to another CDM group; regarding claims 13 and 18, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest that when an entry in a PDSCH time domain allocation list contains a repetition number of PDSCH transmission, determining that a first TCI state corresponds to even PDSCH transmission occasions and that a second TCI state corresponds to odd PDSCH transmission occasions; regarding claim 21, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest two specific TCI states including a different spatial receive parameter, and the UE being capable of simultaneously receiving PDSCH with different TCI states including the spatial receive parameter.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
January 23, 2026