Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3-10-26 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 5, 8, 10, 16, 32, 34-37, 40-44, 99 and 102 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species B-E, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7-2-25.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A of Claims 1-2, 4, 11-12, 24, 26, 28-31, 38-39, 47, 97-98 & 100-101 in the reply filed on 7-2-25 is acknowledged.
-It is notice that claim 99 is directed to Species C with similar limitations as recited in claims 8, 35 & 102. Therefore, claim 99 is hereby withdrawn from Species A and rejoined to Species C.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application, PCT/CN2020/114190 filed 9-9-20, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 2-14-23, 10-31-24 & 3-10-26. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, these information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 28-31, 38-49 & 47, 100-101 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1-2) as being anticipated by Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1).
Regarding Claim 28.
A method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising:
determining at least one UE capability associated with an uplink (UL) Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for uplink transmissions by the UE {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”; and ¶0021 wherein “When a UE supports two TCI states in a codepoint of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’(the claimed common beam), the UE may receive an activation command. The activation command is used to map up to 8 combinations of one or two TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ ”; In other words, upon receiving TCI state activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, the UE determined its capability with respect to the activation, e.g. “the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs” }; and
transmitting an indication of the at least one UE capability associated with the UL TCI state to a base station, wherein the at least one UE capability includes a first maximum number of configured UL TCI states per bandwidth part (BWP) per component carrier (CC) {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0022 wherein “When the UE would transmit a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information in slot n corresponding to the PDSCH carrying the activation command, the indicated mapping between TCI states and codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’” ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively”; and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; see also ¶0035-¶0045; In other words, UE transmitted its “capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC” of “up to M TCI-State configurations”, emphasis added}.
Regarding Claim 29. With the same reasons as set forth in the method of claim 28, wherein the at least one UE capability is for a single transmission reception point (TRP) and further includes at least one of: second maximum number of activated UL TCI states per BWP per CC {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0035-¶0036 wherein “the UE may signal (to the claimed TRP, emphasis added) one or more of the following UE capability parameters: additionalActiveTCI-StatePDCCH—Indicates whether the UE supports one additional active TCI-State for control in addition to the supported number of active TCI-States for PDSCH. The UE can include this field only if maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP in tci-StatePDSCH is set to n1.” ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”}, a third maximum number of configured UL TCI states across all CCs, or a fourth maximum number of activated UL TCI states across all CCs .
Regarding Claim 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the at least one UE capability is for the uplink transmission of data and control {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0035-¶0036 wherein “the UE may signal one or more of the following UE capability parameters: additionalActiveTCI-StatePDCCH—Indicates whether the UE supports one additional active TCI-State for control in addition to the supported number of active TCI-States for PDSCH. The UE can include this field only if maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP in tci-StatePDSCH is set to n1;” and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”}.
Regarding Claim 31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
receiving a configuration of one or more CC lists, wherein the UE reports the at least one UE capability for the third maximum number of configured UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists or the fourth maximum number of activated UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0035-¶0036 wherein “the UE may signal one or more of the following UE capability parameters: additionalActiveTCI-StatePDCCH—Indicates whether the UE supports one additional active TCI-State for control in addition to the supported number of active TCI-States for PDSCH. The UE can include this field only if maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP in tci-StatePDSCH is set to n1;” and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”}.
Regarding Claim 38. The method of claim 28, wherein the at least one UE capability is for activation of the UL TCI state across multiple component carriers (CCs) {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”; and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; see also ¶0035-¶0045}.
Regarding Claim 39. The method of claim 38, further comprising: receiving a configuration of one or more CC lists, wherein the UE reports the at least one UE capability is for the activation of the UL TCI state across the multiple CCs of the one or more CC lists {Raghavan: ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; and ¶0020 wherein “The UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs.”}.
Regarding Claim 47.
-Claim 47 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claim 26.
An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine at least one UE capability associated with an uplink (UL) Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for uplink transmissions by the UE; and
transmit an indication of the at least one UE capability associated with the UL TCI state to a base station, wherein the at least one UE capability includes a first maximum number of configured UL TCI states per bandwidth part (BWP) per component carrier (CC).
Regarding Claim 100. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the at least one UE capability is for a single transmission reception point (TRP) and further includes at least one of: a second maximum number of activated UL TCI states per BWP per CC, a third maximum number of configured UL TCI states across all CCs, or a fourth maximum number of activated UL TCI states across all CCs.
-Claim 100 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 26, 47 & 104.
Regarding Claim 101. The apparatus of claim 100, where the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a configuration of one or more CC lists, wherein the UE reports the at least one UE capability for the third maximum number of configured UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists or the fourth maximum number of activated UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists.
-Claim 101 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 26, 47 & 4.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 11-12, 103-104, 4, 105-106; 24; 26, 97-99, 107-108 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatented over Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1) in view of Rahman (US 2021/0321378 A1).
Regarding Claim 1. (Currently Amended)
A method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising:
determining at least one UE capability associated with a joint Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state indicating a common beam for communication {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”; and ¶0021 wherein “When a UE supports two TCI states in a codepoint of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’(the claimed common beam), the UE may receive an activation command. The activation command is used to map up to 8 combinations of one or two TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ ”; In other words, upon receiving TCI state activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, the UE determined its capability with respect to the activation, e.g. “the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs” }; and
transmitting an indication of the at least one UE capability associated with the joint TCI state to a base station, wherein the at least one UE capability includes a first capability of the UE for a first maximum number of configured joint TCI states per bandwidth part (BWP) per component carrier (CC) {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0022 wherein “When the UE would transmit a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information in slot n corresponding to the PDSCH carrying the activation command, the indicated mapping between TCI states and codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’” ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively”; and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; see also ¶0035-¶0045; In other words, UE transmitted its “capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC” of “up to M TCI-State configurations”, emphasis added}.
Raghavan does not explicitly disclose the common beam for downlink and uplink communication.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Rahman (US 2021/0321378 A1) disclose the common beam for downlink and uplink communication {Rahman: Fig.18 & ¶0224-¶0227 wherein “a UE is configured to receive a dedicated DCI (TCI-DCI) indicating the common beam (TCI state) for all DL and UL channels. In particular, the indicated common beam is used for the reception of DL control (PDCCH) and DL data (PDSCH) as well as for the transmission of UL control (PUCCH) and UL data (PUSCH), wherein PUCCH can be associated with (or in response to) DL reception and/or UL transmission. The UE receives (e.g., a TCI-DCI format) and decodes TCI-DCI in slot (or subframe) N, and uses either the indicated beam (TCI state) or another TCI state (beam) to receive DL control (PDCCH) scheduling DL assignment (via DL-DCI) and/or UL grant (via UL-DCI) starting in the same (slot N) or later slot(s)”-¶0225}. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to Rahman’s teaching to Raghavan’s system with the motivation being to “enable dynamic multi-beam operations in a wireless communication system”{Rahman: ¶0004}.
Regarding Claim 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one UE capability further includes a second maximum number of activated joint TCI states across all CCs {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0035-¶0036 wherein “the UE may signal one or more of the following UE capability parameters: additionalActiveTCI-StatePDCCH—Indicates whether the UE supports one additional active TCI-State for control in addition to the supported number of active TCI-States for PDSCH. The UE can include this field only if maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP in tci-StatePDSCH is set to n1.”}
Regarding Claim 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one UE capability is for activation of the joint TCI state across multiple component carriers (CCs) {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”; and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; see also ¶0035-¶0045}.
Regarding Claim 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
receiving a configuration of one or more CC lists, wherein the UE reports the at least one UE capability is for the activation of a joint DL and UL TCI state across the multiple CCs of the one or more CC lists {Raghavan: ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; and ¶0020 wherein “The UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs.”}.
Regarding Claim 103. The method of claim 1, wherein the first maximum number is for configured joint downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) TCI states per BWP per CC {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”}.
Regarding Claim 104. The method of claim 103, wherein the at least one UE capability is for a single transmission reception point (TRP) and further includes at least one of: a second maximum number of activated joint DL and UL TCI states per BWP per CC {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0035-¶0036 wherein “the UE may signal (to the claimed TRP, emphasis added) one or more of the following UE capability parameters: additionalActiveTCI-StatePDCCH—Indicates whether the UE supports one additional active TCI-State for control in addition to the supported number of active TCI-States for PDSCH. The UE can include this field only if maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP in tci-StatePDSCH is set to n1.” ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”}, a third maximum number of configured joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs, or a fourth maximum number of activated joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs.
Regarding Claim 4. The method of claim 104, further comprising:
receiving a configuration of one or more CC lists, wherein the UE reports the at least one UE capability for the third maximum number of configured joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists or the fourth maximum number of activated joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0035-¶0036 wherein “the UE may signal one or more of the following UE capability parameters: additionalActiveTCI-StatePDCCH—Indicates whether the UE supports one additional active TCI-State for control in addition to the supported number of active TCI-States for PDSCH. The UE can include this field only if maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP in tci-StatePDSCH is set to n1;” and ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”}.
Regarding Claim 105. The method of claim 1, wherein the first maximum number is for configured joint downlink/uplink TCI (joint DL/UL TCI) states per BWP per CC {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; and ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”}.
Regarding Claim 106. The method of claim 105, wherein the at least one UE capability further includes a second maximum number of activated joint downlink/uplink TCI (joint DL/UL TCI) states across all CCs, wherein the joint DL/UL TCI states are activated based on a medium access control- control element (MAC-CE) {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): ¶0011 wherein “a UE may be configured with a TCI list for PDSCH and PDCCH via RRC. The TCI states for PDCCH is a subset of those for PDSCH. For PDCCH the network configures the active TCI state via MAC CE. RRC can configure up to 128 TCI states for PDSCH. The UE can have up to eight activated TCI states via MAC CE”; ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC”; ¶0020 wherein “the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”; and also ¶0013-¶0016, ¶0018, ¶0033-¶0034}.
Regarding Claim 24. (Currently Amended)
-Claim 24 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
An apparatus for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising:
means for determining at least one UE capability associated with a joint Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state indicating a common beam for downlink and uplink communication; and
means for transmitting an indication of the at least one UE capability associated with the joint TCI state to a base station, wherein the at least one UE capability includes a first capability of the UE for a first maximum number of configured joint TCI states per bandwidth part (BWP) per component carrier (CC).
Regarding Claim 26. (Currently Amended)
-Claim 26 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 24 and further as following:
An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) {Raghavan (US 2020/0229161 A1): UE 300-Fig.3, ¶0058, ¶0077-¶0078}, comprising:
a memory {Raghavan: memory 308-Fig.3}; and
at least one processor {Raghavan: processor 306-Fig.3} coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine at least one JE capability associated with a joint Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state indicating a common beam for downlink and uplink communication; and
transmit an indication of the at least one UE capability associated with the joint TCI state to a base station, wherein the at least one UE capability includes a first capability of the UE for a first maximum number of configured joint TCI states per bandwidth part (BWP) per component carrier (CC).
Regarding Claim 97. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one UE capability is for a single transmission reception point (TRP) and further includes at least one of: a second maximum number of activated joint DL and UL TCI states per BWP per CC, a third maximum number of configured joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs, or a fourth maximum number of activated joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs.
-Claim 97 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 24 & 104.
Regarding Claim 98. The apparatus of claim 97, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a configuration of one or more CC lists, wherein the UE reports the at least one UE capability for the third maximum number of configured joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists or the fourth maximum number of activated joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs in the one or more CC lists.
-Claim 98 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 24 & 4.
Regarding Claim 99. The apparatus of claim 98, wherein the at least one UE capability is for single downlink control information (DCI) based multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) and includes at least one of: a maximum number of configured joint DL and UL TCI states mapped to a TCI codepoint for a resource allocation scheme across the multiple TRPs scheduled by a scheduled DCI, first support of a default TCI codepoint mapped to multiple joint DL and UL TCI states per BWP per CC, or second support of the default TCI codepoint mapped to the multiple joint DL and UL TCI states across all CCs {Raghavan: ¶0020 wherein “The UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs”; and ¶0021 wherein “When a UE supports two TCI states in a codepoint of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ the UE may receive an activation command. The activation command is used to map up to 8 combinations of one or two TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’.”}
Regarding Claim 107. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first maximum number is for configured joint downlink/uplink TCI (joint DL/UL TCI) states per BWP per CC {Raghavan: ¶0019 wherein “the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC.”}.
Regarding Claim 108. The apparatus of claim 107, wherein the at least one UE capability further includes a second maximum number of activated joint downlink/uplink TCI (joint DL/UL TCI) states across all CCs, wherein the joint DL/UL TCI states are activated based on a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).
-Claim 108 is rejected with the same reasons as set forth in claims 1, 24, 26 & 106.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments in 2-10-26 with respect to claim(s) 1-2, 11-12, 24, 26, 97-99, 103-104, 4, 105-106 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.
A/. Applicant argued in claims 28 & 47 that "TCI state" in Raghavan is for downlink communication, thus Raghavan does not disclose "an uplink transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for uplink transmissions by the UE.
-In reply, the applicant is directed to Raghavan's 0020 wherein "The UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs" & 0022 wherein "When the UE would transmit a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information in slot n corresponding to the PDSCH carrying the activation command, the indicated mapping between TCI states and codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ should be applied starting from the first slot that is after slot n+3N.sub.slot.sup.subframe,μ where u is the SCS configuration for the PUCCH." In other words, the UE received the activation command used to map up to (the claimed determining) 8 TCI state, the UE would transmit a PUSCH with HARQ-ACK information in slot n (the claimed indication) corresponding to the PDSCH carrying the activation command. Therefore, 102 rejections to claims 28 & 47 stand.
B/. Applicant argued in claims 28 & 47 that Raghavan does not disclose "a first maximum number of configured UL TCI stats per bandwidth (BWP) per component carrier (CC).
-In reply, the applicant is directed to Raghavan's 0019 wherein "the UE can be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH-Config 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 maxNumberConfiguredTClstatesPerCC. Each TCI-State contains parameters for configuring a quasi co-location relationship between one or two downlink reference signals and the DM-RS ports of the PDSCH, the DM-RS port of PDCCH or the CSI-RS port(s) of a CSI-RS resource". Also in 0020 wherein "the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs". In other words, when UE received PDSCH (downlink) configuring UE capability with maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC, the UE received command activation configuring UE capability mapped up to 8 TCI state in CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWP. In 0036 wherein "the UE indicated whether the UE supported one addition to the supported number of active TCI-states for PDSCH, if maxNumberActiveTCI-perBWP in TCIstatePDSCH is set to n1. And in 0045 wherein "maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP indicates the maximum number of activated TI-states per BWP per CC, including control and data". Therefore, 102 rejections to claims 28 & 47 stand.
C/. Applicant argued in claim 2 that Raghavan fails to disclose "the at least one UE capability further includes a second maximum number of activated joint TCI states across all CCs".
-In reply, the applicant is directed to Raghavan's 0020 wherein "the UE receives an activation command used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’ in one CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWPs, respectively. When a set of TCI state IDs are activated for a set of CCs/DL BWPs, where the applicable list of CCs is determined by indicated CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs". In other words, when UE received PDSCH (downlink) configuring UE capability with maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC, the UE received command activation configuring UE capability mapped up to 8 TCI state in CC/DL BWP or in a set of CCs/DL BWP to indicate "CC in the activation command, the same set of TCI state IDs (the claimed joint TCI states) are applied for all DL BWPs in the indicated CCs (the claimed all CCs)"(0020). In 0036 wherein "the UE indicated whether the UE supported one addition to the supported number of active TCI-states for PDSCH, if maxNumberActiveTCI-perBWP in TCIstatePDSCH is set to n1"; In other words, the UE supported "one addition (e.g. +1) to the supported number of active TCI states (e.g. 2) for PDSCH (the claimed second max number of activated joint TCI states across all CCs), because the "maxNumberActiveTCI-perBWP in TCIstatePDSCH is set to n1 (e.g. n1=1)", therefore, the new or second maxNumberActivatedTCI-perBWP in TCIstatePDSCH is 2, emphasis added. See also in 0045 wherein "maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP indicates the maximum number of activated TCI-states per BWP per CC, including control and data". Therefore, 102 rejection to claim 2 stands.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yuan (US 20240214171 A1) discloses wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may receive, from a serving cell, information indicating a set of activated channel state information (CSI) trigger states that are respectively associated with a set of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states each having a respective source reference signal. The UE may track, based at least in part on a capability to concurrently track multiple TCI states, a subset of TCI states, of the set of TCI states, including at least one TCI state for which the respective source reference signal is a non-serving cell synchronization signal block (SSB){Figs.1-7}.
Nilsson (US 2023/0319839 A1) discloses a method performed by a wireless communication device. The method includes receiving a configuration of a plurality of TCI states via RRC signaling. The method includes receiving a MAC CE that activates a subset of the plurality of TCI states. The method includes receiving a DCI that indicates one or more of the subset of the plurality of TCI states to be used and explicitly or implicitly indicates one or more particular CORESETs for which the one or more of the subset of the plurality of TCI states are to be used. The method includes using one or more spatial QCL downlink reference signals contained in the one or more of the subset of the plurality of TCI states to receive a PDCCH corresponding to the one or more particular CORESETs.
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/PHUONGCHAU BA NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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