DETAILED ACTION
RCE
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/10/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remark
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 01/16/26.
Independent claims have been amended.
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.
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-9, 11-13, and 15-17, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (US 2022/0070899, “Huang”; Provisional 63/071,562, hereinafter “Hwang’sProv”) in view of MolavianJazi et al. (US 2021/0076384, “MolavianJazi”).
Regarding claim 1, Hwang discloses a wireless device comprising:
- one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to (Huang, See Fig.3 and Hwang’sProv, See Fig.A3, a processor and a memory within a UE):
- receive, via at least one control resource set (CORESET) of coresets configured for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) repetition (Hwang’sProv, See pg.4-71, a UE monitors a set of PDCCH candidates in the configured monitoring occasions in one or more configured CORESETs according to the corresponding search space configurations; See pg.27-71, Sec.[PDCCH-Config], the IE PDCCH-Config is used to configure UE specific PDCCH parameters such as control resource sets, search spaces and additional parameters for acquiring the PDCCH; See pg.46-71, For achieving reliability of PDCCH, one or more PDCCH repetition (from different TRP) on time domain could be one approach. In this approach, once one linkage between TRP and UE is blockage resulting failed PDCCH reception, there are another PDCCH repetition from same or different TRP for successfully scheduling), at least one repetition of a PDCCH order that triggers a transmission of a random-access preamble (See pg.29-71, For a CORESET with index 0, the UE assumes that a DM-RS antenna port for PDCCH receptions in the CORESET is quasi co-located with a SS/PBCH block the UE identified during a most recent random access procedure not initiated by a PDCCH order that triggers a contention-free random access procedure; See pg.32-71, the DCI format 1_0 is for random access procedure initiated by a PDCCH order); and
- transmit the random-access preamble with a transmission power (See pg.8-71, Sec.5.3.4, The UE calculates the PRACH transmit power for the transmission of the preamble based on the most recent estimate pathloss and power ramping counter; See pg.8-71, The gNB determines the desired uplink transmit power and provides uplink transmit power control commands to the UE. The UE uses the provided uplink transmit power control commands to adjust its transmit power) determined based on a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a CORESET among the CORESETs (See pg.19-71, Sec.5.18.5, The network may indicate a TCI state for PDCCH reception for a CORESET of a Serving Cell by sending the TCI State Indication for DE-specific PDCCH MAC CE described in clause 6.1.3.15; See pg.29-71, an antenna port quasi co-location, from a set of antenna port quasi co-locations provided by TCI-State, indicating quasi co-location information of the DM-RS antenna port for PDCCH reception in a respective CORESET; See pg.20-71, Sec.6.1.3.15, If the field of CORESET ID is set to the other value than 0, this field indicates a TCI-Stateid configured by tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList and tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList in the controlResourceSet identified by the indicated CORESET ID; As shown in Fig.6.1.3.15-1,
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Examiner’s Note: in other words, a TCI state is associated with a CORESET, however, Hwang’sProv does not explicitly disclose the limitations “the random-access preamble with a transmission power determined based on a TCI state”).
Huang does not explicitly disclose what MolavianJazi discloses “the random-access preamble with a transmission power determined based on a TCI state (MolavianJazi, See ¶.94, a PRACH preamble transmission is associated with a DL RS. This association can help a serving gNB to identify an uplink spatial reception filter/beam to receive a PRACH and can also help a UE to identify an uplink spatial transmission filter/beam to transmit a PRACH. For example, a UE can use a same or a related, such as with same quasi-colocation (QCL) properties and/or same direction but narrower width, uplink transmission filter/beam as that used for DL reception of an indicated DL RS for Msg1 transmission. This association can also be used to provide a DL RS resource for pathloss estimation for determining a PRACH preamble transmission power; See ¶.85, each TCI-State contains parameters for configuring a quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship between one or two downlink reference signals; Examiner’s Note: MolavianJazi discloses that the association, i.e. a PRACH preamble transmission associated with a DL-RS help a serving gNB to identify an uplink spatial reception filter or beam to receive a PRACH and help a UE to identify an uplink spatial transmission filter or beam to transmit a PRACH. And the QCL properties is equated to TCI state as shown in ¶.85. Therefore, MolavianJazi discloses the method of transmitting PRACH preamble with a transmission power determined based on a TCI state, which is associated with a CORESET disclosed by Hwang’sProv), wherein the coreset is different from the at least one coreset via which the at least one repetition was received (Hwang’sProv, pg.4-71, A UE monitors a set of PDCCH candidates in the configured monitoring occasions in one or more configured CORESETs according to the corresponding search space configurations; See pg.54-71, “Regarding to same search space of the first search space and the second search space, a bit-map for indicating starting OFDM symbol of monitoring occasions. For example, the first CORESET is with CORESET duration of 2OFDM symbols, and the bit-map (for the first search space) is (1,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0), wherein the most left bit corresponds to first OFDM symbol of a slot and the most right bit corresponds to last OFDM symbol of the slot. The first monitoring occasion starts from the first OFDM symbol of a slot.”; MolavianJazi, As shown in Figs.9-10, a first CORESET for PDCCH repletion is for DL RS and a second CORESET for PRACH is for uplink random access channel and therefore, the CORESET for PRACH is different from the CORESET for PDCCH repetition; See Fig.12 of Hwang, which is explained, but does not shown the Figure, in Hwang’sProv; Examiner’s Note; Hwang’sProv discloses the CORESET duration, i.e. a certain duration of a slot having 2OFDM symbols for monitoring PDCCH repetition and the CORESET is associated with a TCI state and the PRACH preamble is for uplink random access channel having a different CORESET of PDCCH repetition).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the random-access preamble with a transmission power determined based on a TCI state” as taught by Hwang into the system of Huang, so that it provides a way for a UE to identify an uplink spatial transmission filter or beam to transmit a PRACH according to TCI state (MolavianJazi, See ¶.94).
Regarding claim 3, Huang discloses “a coreset index of the coreset is lowest among coreset indexes of the coresets (Huang, See ¶.6, TCI state is determined on a lowest CORESET; Hwang’sProv, See pg.18-71, UE could assume that the DM-RS ports of PDSCH are QCL-ed with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) used for PDCCH of the lowest CORESET index among CORESETs configured with the same value of CORESETPoollndex).”
Regarding claim 4, Huang discloses “the PDCCH order comprises a field indicating the coreset (Huang, See ¶.396-398, UE receives a MAC CE activation command for one of the provided TCI states for a CORESET; Hwang’sProv, See pg.29-71, For a CORESET with index 0, the UE assumes that a DM-RS antenna port for PDCCH receptions in the CORESET is quasi co-located with - the one or more DL RS configured by a TCI state, where the TCI state is indicated by a MAC CE activation command for the CORESET, if any, or - a SS/PBCH block the UE identified during a most recent random access procedure not initiated by a PDCCH order that triggers a contention-free random access procedure, if no MAC CE activation command indicating a TCI state for the CORESET is received after the most recent random access procedure).”
Regarding claim 5, Huang do not explicitly disclose what MolavianJazi discloses “the wireless device to receive downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a random-access response with a spatial domain filter based on the TCI state of the coreset (MolavianJazi, See ¶.85, 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 maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC. Each TCI-State contains parameters for configuring a quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship between one or two downlink reference signals and the DMRS ports of the PDSCH, the DMRS port of PDCCH or the CSI-RS port(s) of a CSI-RS resource; See ¶.94, A PRACH preamble transmission is associated with a DL RS. This association can help a serving gNB to identify an uplink spatial reception filter/beam to receive a PRACH and can also help a UE to identify an uplink spatial transmission filter/beam to transmit a PRACH. For example, a UE can use a same or a related, such as with same quasi-colocation (QCL) properties and/or same direction but narrower width, uplink transmission filter/beam as that used for DL reception of an indicated DL RS for Msg1 transmission. This association can also be used to provide a DL RS resource for pathloss estimation for determining a PRACH preamble transmission power in NR specification).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 7, Huang discloses “the transmission power is determined based on a measurement of a reference signal, indicated by the TCI, for a pathloss estimation (Hwang’sProv, pg.5-71, for channel state estimation purposes, the UE may be configured to measure CSI-RS and estimate the downlink channel state based on the CSI-RS measurements. The UE feeds the estimated channel state back to the gNB to be used in link adaptation; See pg.8-71, the UE calculates the PRACH transmit power for the retransmission of the preamble based on the most recent estimate pathloss and power ramping counter).”
Regarding claim 8, Huang does not explicitly disclose what MolavianJazi discloses “the wireless device to: receive, via a second coreset that is not associated with the PDCCH repetition, a second PDCCH order that triggers a second transmission of a second random-access preamble; and transmit the second random-access preamble with a second transmission power based on a second TCI state of the second coreset (MolavianJazi, See ¶.252, a first CORESET (or a first subset of CORESETs) from the set of multiple CORESETs can be configured on a first initial DL BWP, while a second CORESET (or a second subset of CORESETs) from the set of multiple CORESETs can be configured on a second initial DL BWP. The CORESETs can be associated with PDCCH monitoring through configuration of respective search space sets; See ¶.88, a random access procedure is initiated by PDCCH order; See ¶.94, a PRACH preamble transmission is associated with a DL-RS. This association can also be used to provide a DL-RS resource for pathloss estimation for determining a PRACH preamble transmission power in NR specification; See ¶.85, each TCI state contains parameters for configuring a quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship between one or two DL-RS and the DMRS port of PDCCH; See ¶.113, the UE attempts a new PRACH preamble transmission with PRACH resource selection and possibly applying PRACH preamble power ramping).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 9, it is a base station claim corresponding to the wireless device claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 11-13 and 15-16, they are claims corresponding to claims 3-5 and 7-8, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claim 17, it is a non-transitory computer readable medium claim corresponding to the claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 19-20, they are claims corresponding to claims 3 & 7, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Claims 6 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Huang in view of Hwang’sProv and further in view of Cozzo et al. (US 2022/0006575, “Cozzo”; Provisional 63/046,854, hereinafter “Cozzo’sProv’854”).
Regarding claim 6, MolavianJazi discloses “the wireless device to receive a random-access response (RAR) with a spatial domain filter (See ¶.154, RAR is associated with a spatial domain transmission filter), but Huang and MolavianJazi do not explicitly disclose what Cozzo discloses “RAR based on the TCI state of the coreset (Cozzo, See ¶.131-132, gNB indicates a TCI state/spatial setting in RAR message; Cozzo’sProv’854, pg.26, An additional aspect is related to the spatial setting of a Msg3 PUSCH transmission. A gNB can indicate a TCI state/spatial setting for the Msg3 transmission in the RAR message. For example, the indicated spatial setting is determined from the cycling of the spatial settings of the PRACH; See pg.27, Fig.8,
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).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “RAR based on the TCI state of the coreset” as taught by Cozzo into the system of Huang and MolavianJazi, so that it provides a way for the UE to transmit the Msg3 PUSCH using the indicated spatial setting (Cozzo, See ¶.132).
Regarding claim 14, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 6 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been considered. But, in view of the applicant’s amendment to the claims, examiner has clarified and totally remapped the rejection to the argued claim limitations, using the prior art of record in the current prosecution of the claims.
At pages 5-8, with respect to 1, applicant argues the newly added claim limitations. However, the previous 103 rejection has been replaced with a new 103 rejection over Huang (Hwang’sProv) in view of MolavianJazi.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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/JUNG H PARK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411