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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-19 filed on January 30 2026 are pending, claims 1, 3-4, 7-8 and 18-19 are amended.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 06 2026, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner and an initialed and dated copy of the Applicant’s IDS form 1449 is attached to the instant Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 15, filed January 30 2026, with respect to claim 4 has been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claim 4 has been withdrawn. Claim 4 is amended, not canceled.
Applicant's arguments, see pg. 17-18, filed January 30 2026, with respect to claim 1 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant acknowledged Zheng discloses the UE 120 may detect beam failure on the link with TRP A …The MAC CE may be referred to herein as a multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE. The beam failure information may indicate whether the beam failure is associated with TRP A or TRP B in [0081-82]. Applicant argued "Zheng appears to be targeted at the link with TRP A, not at a specific TRP". There is not further limitation positively recited in the claim the TRP is a specific TRP. Zheng further discloses a MAC-CE to indicate beam failure information for one or more serving cells, wherein the beam failure information is associated with at least one of a first TRP or a second TRP in [0010]. In light of specification, Fig, 6 discloses link 1 correspond to TRP-1 and link 2 correspond to TRP-2. It is vague that claim or argument refers to TRP failure or beam of TRP failure. Applicant argued Yi does not disclose that "the BFR MAC-CE for TRP-specific BFR indicates information about the TRP for which beam failure recovery is triggered". Applicant’s argument requires to monitor a specific TRP and report MAC CE independently. Therefore, MAC CE structure needs to be well defined and positively recites in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-5, 9-12 and 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US 2023/0362670 A1, hereinafter "Zheng") in view of Yi et al. (US 2020/0350972 A1, hereinafter "Yi").
Regarding claim 1, Zheng discloses an apparatus for generating beam failure information, comprising a memory and processor circuitry, the memory storing instructions, and the processor circuitry being configured to execute the instructions to implement the following: detecting a beam failure recovery (BFR) in a transmission reception point (TRP) (Zheng, [0081] the UE 120 may detect beam failure on the link with TRP A...and may therefore declare beam failure on the link with TRP A); triggering a beam failure recovery (BFR) for the TRP (Zheng, [0081] may therefore declare beam failure on the link with TRP A); and
generating a BFR medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the BFR MAC CE indicates information for the TRP in which beam failure recovery is triggered (Zheng, [0091] multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE that can be used to indicate beam failure for an SPcell. For example, if BFR is triggered for a TRP in an SpCell, the UE may transmit the multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE with an SP bit), one or more bits in the BFR MAC CE indicating information for the TRP; wherein a first value of the one or more bits indicates that a beam failure is detected in a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set (BFD-RS set) with a first index corresponds, and a second value of the one or more bits indicates that a beam failure is detected in a TRP to which a BFD-RS set with a second index corresponds (Zheng, [0088] each bit in the first group of bits may indicate whether a beam failure has occurred for a corresponding serving cell with regard to the first TRP… If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1).
Zheng does not explicitly disclose in case where at least one beam failure recovery has been triggered and not cancelled for the TRP and evaluation of candidate beams has been completed.
Yi from the same field of endeavor discloses generating a BFR medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) in case where at least one beam failure recovery has been triggered and not cancelled for the TRP and evaluation of candidate beams has been completed, wherein the BFR MAC CE indicates information for the TRP in which beam failure recovery is triggered (Yi, [0399, 0419] Based on the BFR trigger, a MAC-CE or UCI may be used to deliver a new candidate beam index. In an example, for the first beam failure recovery procedure, a wireless device may trigger a PUCCH to TRP1 when a beam failure request may carry the information of the new candidate beam; the wireless device may support at most one beam failure recovery procedure for the cell. When the wireless device may encounter more than one beam failure procedure at a given time (e.g., the wireless device is served by more than two TRPs, and two TRPs may fail in parallel).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified beam failure report disclosed by Zheng and beam failure recovery in multi-TRP disclosed by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of a wireless network (Yi, [0304]).
Regarding claim 2, Zheng discloses wherein the information for the TRP comprises: an index or an identifier of the TRP in which beam failure is detected or for which beam failure recovery is triggered (Zheng, [0057] wherein a second field of the byte indicates whether the single new beam is associated with the first TRP or the second TRP of the serving cell, and wherein a third field of the byte indicates a serving cell identifier of the serving cell).
Regarding claim 3, Zheng discloses a third value of the one or more bits in the BFR MAC CE indicates that beam failure recovery is triggered for the TRP to which a control resource pool with a third index corresponds, and a forth value of the one or more bits therein indicates that beam failure recovery is triggered for the TRP to which a control resource pool with forth index corresponds (Zheng, [0088, 94] if the second group of bits indicates a single beam status, a third group of bits may indicate whether the single beam status is associated with a first TRP or a second TRP).
Regarding claim 4, Zheng discloses wherein a value of two bits in the BFR MAC CE indicates one or any combination of the following that:
a beam failure is not detected in TRP or beam failure recovery is not triggered for a TRP (Zheng, [0083] The information included in the multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE that indicates a candidate beam or no candidate beam is referred to herein as a beam
status. A beam status for serving cell N and TRP Y is denoted by Beam status--CN-Y);
a beam failure is detected in a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 0 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 0 corresponds (Zheng, [0088] I If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1);
a beam failure is detected in a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 1 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 1 corresponds (Zheng, [0088] I If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1);
a beam failure is detected both in a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 0 corresponds and a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 1 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered both for a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 0 corresponds and a TRP to which a control resource pool with an index of 1 corresponds (Zheng, [0088] I If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1);
or, a value of two bits in the BFR MAC CE indicates one or any combination of the following that:
a beam failure is not detected in TRP or beam failure recovery is not triggered for a TRP (Zheng, [0083] The information included in the multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE that indicates a candidate beam or no candidate beam is referred to herein as a beam status. A beam status for serving cell N and TRP Y is denoted by Beam status--CN-Y);
a beam failure is detected in a TRP with an index of 0 or beam failure recovery is triggered for a TRP with an index of 0 (Zheng, [0088] I If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1);
a beam failure is detected in a TRP with an index of 1 or beam failure recovery is triggered for a TRP with an index of 1 (Zheng, [0088] I If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1);
a beam failure is detected both in a TRP with an index of 0 and a TRP with an index of 1 or beam failure recovery is triggered both for a TRP with an index of 0 and a TRP with an index of 1 (Zheng, [0088] I If bit C1 -0 is activated or set to a particular value, C1 this may indicate beam failure with regard to a serving cell 1 on TRP 1);
or, a value of 2 bits in the BFR MAC CE indicates one or any combination of the following that: a beam failure is not detected in TRPs or beam failure recovery is not triggered for a TRP; a beam failure is detected in a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds, or a beam failures is detected in all beams to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for all beams to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds; a beam failure is detected in a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds, or a beam failure is detected in all beams to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for all beams to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds; a beam failure is detected in both a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds and a TRP to which a beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for both a TRP to which the beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds and a TRP to which the beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds, or a beam failure is detected in all beams to which the beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds and all beams to which the beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds or beam failure recovery is triggered for all beams to which the beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 0 corresponds and all beams to which the beam failure detection reference signal set with an index of 1 corresponds (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 5, Zheng discloses R bit(s) in a BFR MAC CE or a truncated BFR MAC CE is(are) used to carry/indicate/represent an index of the TRP in which beam failure is detected or for which beam failure recovery is triggered; or,
R bit(s) and AC field(s) in a BFR MAC CE or a truncated BFR MAC CE are used to
carry/indicate/represent an index of the TRP in which beam failure is detected or for which beam failure recovery is triggered (Zheng, [0089] The multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE may include additional bytes to indicate candidate beam information for the plurality of serving cells. Each additional byte may be associated with a respective serving cell and TRP of the plurality of serving cells and the first TRP and the second TRP. Each additional byte may include an "AC" field of one or more bits. The value indicated by the AC field may be indicate whether a candidate beam is indicated for the serving cell and TRP associated with the additional byte).
Regarding claim 9, Zheng discloses R bit(s) in a BFR MAC CE or a truncated BFR MAC CE is(are) used to carry/indicate/represent the type of a detected beam failure or the type of triggered beam failure recovery; or, R bit(s) and AC field(s) in a BFR MAC CE or a truncated BFR MAC CE are used to carry/indicate/represent the type of a detected beam failure or the type of triggered beam failure recovery (Zheng, [0089] The multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE may include additional bytes to indicate candidate beam information for the plurality of serving cells. Each additional byte may be associated with a respective serving cell and TRP of the plurality of serving cells and the first TRP and the second TRP. Each additional byte may include an "AC" field of one or more bits. The value indicated by the AC field may be indicate whether a candidate beam is indicated for the serving cell and TRP associated with the additional byte).
Regarding claim 10, Zheng discloses wherein the BFR MAC CE comprises at least one or any combination of the following information: information of a cell to which the TRP in which a beam failure is detected or for which beam failure recovery is triggered belongs, whether information of candidate beams is found, and information of the candidate beams (Zheng, [0028] the multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE indicates whether the beam failure is associated with the first TRP or the second TRP. In some aspects, the multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE indicates a candidate beam for the first TRP or the second TRP, and indicates whether the candidate beam is associated with the first TRP or the second TRP).
Regarding claim 11, Zheng discloses transmitting the BFR MAC CE to a network device, wherein the BFR MAC CE is transferred to the network device via another TRP of a cell to which the TRP belongs, or the BFR MAC CE is transferred to the network device via a TRP, co-located with the TRP, of a cell different from a cell to which the TRP belongs, or the BFR MAC CE is reported to the network device via a cell different from a cell to which the TRP belongs (Zheng, [0009] configure a MAC-CE to indicate beam failure information for one or more serving cells, wherein the beam failure information is associated with at least one of a first TRP or a second TRP of the one or more serving cells; and transmit the MAC-CE to a base station via at least one serving cell).
Regarding claim 12, Zheng discloses wherein the processor circuitry 1s further
configured to execute the instructions to implement the following:
transmitting the BFR MAC CE by using one of the following uplink grants:
an uplink grant of a TRP where a TRP-specific beam failure is not detected of a cell to which the TRP where a TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
an uplink grant of the TRP, co-located with a TRP where a TRP-specific beam failure is detected, of a cell different from a cell to which the TRP where a TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs (Zheng, [0069, 93] The interface may have a smaller delay and/or higher capacity when the TRPs 405 are co-located at the same base station; he network may generally first configure the UE 120 with a single TRP (e.g., the primary TRP), and if conditions warrant the addition of a second TRP, then a non-primary (e.g., secondary) TRP may be added. In this sense, it is beneficial to prioritize recovery of the primary TRP over the secondary TRP. Thus, in the case of a truncated MAC-CE, reporting the candidate beam for the first/primary TRP of each failed SCell first is beneficial, if uplink grants for the MAC-CE are small);
an uplink grant of a cell different from a cell to which a TRP where a TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Regarding claim 16, Zheng does not explicitly disclose wherein the BFR MAC CE comprises: information of candidate beams, the information of candidate beams comprising an index of a synchronization signal block or an index of a channel state information reference signal, or the information of candidate beams indicating an order of occurrence in configured candidate beams;
and the candidate beams satisfying at least one of the following conditions that:
the candidate beams are included in a candidate beam list configured for the TRP where TRP-specific beam failure is detected, or the candidate beams are included in a candidate beam/beam failure detection reference signal BFD-RS list configured for a cell to which the TRP where TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs, or the candidate beams are included in a candidate beam/BFD-RS list configured for another TRP of a cell to which the TRP where TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
reference signal received power is higher than a configured threshold;
a signal to interference plus noise ratio is higher than a configured threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a received signal strength indicator is higher than a configured threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
beams/reference signals paired therewith are included in the candidate beam list configured for the TRP where TRP-specific beam failure is detected, or beams/reference signals paired therewith are included in the candidate beam/BFD-RS list configured for the cell to which the TRP where TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs, or beams/reference signals paired therewith are included in the candidate beam/BFD-RS list configured for another TRP of the cell to which the TRP where TRP-specific beam failure is detected belongs;
measurement values of the beams/reference signals paired therewith are higher than a
configured threshold (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Yi from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the BFR MAC CE comprises: information of candidate beams, the information of candidate beams comprising an index of a synchronization signal block or an index of a channel state information reference signal, or the information of candidate beams indicating an order of occurrence in configured candidate beams;
and the candidate beams satisfying at least one of the following conditions that: reference signal received power is higher than a configured threshold (Yi, [0343], the wireless device may provide to the higher layer one or more candidate RSs (e.g., the periodic CSI-RS configuration indexes, the SS/PBCH blocks indexes) from the one or more second RSs (e.g., the second set) and one or more L1-RSRP measurements. In an example, each candidate RS of the one or more candidate RSs may be associated with a L1-RSRP measurement of the one or more L1-RSRP measurements…the association may be one-to-one. In an example, the one or more L1-RSRP measurements associated with the one or more candidate RSs may be larger than or equal to the second threshold).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified beam failure report disclosed by Zheng and beam failure recovery in multi-TRP disclosed by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve performance of a wireless network (Yi, [0304]).
Regarding claim 17, Zheng discloses wherein the BFR MAC CE is MAC CE for a
plurality of TRPs including the TRP (Zheng, [0028] provide configuration and signaling of beam failure information in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), which may be referred to herein as a multi-TRP BFR MAC CE. For example, the multi-TRP BFR MAC-CE may include a bitmap that indicates one or more serving cells associated with a beam failure associated with at least one of a first TRP or a second TRP).
Regarding claims 18-19, these claims recite "a terminal equipment" and "a network device" that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claim 1, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claim 1 as presented above.
Claims 6-7 and 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US 2023/0362670 A1, hereinafter "Zheng") in view of Yi et al. (US 2020/0350972 A1, hereinafter "Yi") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Zhu et al. (US 2022/0132517 A1, Provisional application No. 63/105,133, filed on Oct. 23, 2020, hereinafter "Zhu").
Regarding claim 6, Zheng does not explicitly disclose wherein the BFR MAC CE comprises: a type of a detected beam failure or a type of triggered beam failure recovery.
Zhu from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the BFR MAC CE comprises: a type of a detected beam failure or a type of triggered beam failure recovery (Zhu, [0126-0127] this indication could be via higher layer (RRC) or/and MAC CE or/and DCI based signaling; The first BFD RS beam set q0-0 could contain at least one BFD RS and is used by the UE for detecting and/or triggering the full cell-specific BFR. The second BFD RS beam set q0-1 could contain at least two BFD RSs and is used by the UE for detecting and/or triggering the TRP-specific/partial BFR in a multi-TRP system);
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zhu’s system for beam failure recovery process into Zheng’s beam failure report process as modified by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve system network (Zhu, [0063]).
Regarding claim 7, Zheng does not explicitly disclose wherein 1 bit in the BFR MAC CE indicates the type of a detected beam failure or the type of triggered beam failure recovery,
a value of the 1 bit indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered, and another value of the 1 bit indicating that TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered; or
a value of the 1 bit indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered, and another value of the 1 bit indicating that non-cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of not all beams are detected or non-cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not all beam is triggered (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); or
a value of the 1 bit indicating that TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered, and another value of the 1 bit indicating that non-TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of not a part of beams are detected or non-TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not a part of beams is triggered (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Zhu from the same field of endeavor discloses a value of the 1 bit indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered, and another value of the 1 bit indicating that TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered (Zhu, [0126-0127] this indication could be via higher layer (RRC) or/and MAC CE or/and DCI based signaling; The first BFD RS beam set q0-0 could contain at least one BFD RS and is used by the UE for detecting and/or triggering the full cell-specific BFR. The second BFD RS beam set q0-1 could contain at least two BFD RSs and is used by the UE for detecting and/or triggering the TRP-specific/partial BFR in a multi-TRP system).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zhu’s system for beam failure recovery process into Zheng’s beam failure report process as modified by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve system network (Zhu, [0063]).
Regarding claim 13, Zheng does not explicitly disclose wherein a media access control entity instructs a multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE; the TRP-specific BFR MAC CE being different from a cell-specific BFR MAC CE.
Zhu from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a media access control entity instructs a multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE; the TRP-specific BFR MAC CE being different from a cell-specific BFR MAC CE (Zhu, Fig. 12 [0445] The UE could configure one or more MAC entities
for multi-TRP BFR. For example, the UE could configure one MAC entity for the conventional cell-specific BFR for a multi-TRP system).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zhu’s system for beam failure recovery process into Zheng’s beam failure report process as modified by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve system network (Zhu, [0063]).
Regarding to claim 14, Zheng does not explicitly disclose the TRP-specific BFR MAC CE is generated by using an independent procedure from a procedure of the cell-specific BFR MAC CE; or, the cell-specific BFR MAC CE and the TRP-specific BFR MAC CE are generated by using one procedure.
Zhu from the same field of endeavor discloses the TRP-specific BFR MAC CE is generated by using an independent procedure from a procedure of the cell-specific BFR MAC CE; or, the cell-specific BFR MAC CE and the TRP-specific BFR MAC CE are generated by using one procedure (Zhu, [0435] the UE would transmit a beam alive request for the failed secondary TRP(s) to the network. The UE could then be configured by the network to switch from the single-TRP operation to the multi-TRP operation).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zhu’s system for beam failure recovery process into Zheng’s beam failure report process as modified by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve system network (Zhu, [0063]).
Claims 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US 2023/0362670 A1, hereinafter "Zheng") in view of Yi et al. (US 2020/0350972 A1, hereinafter "Yi") and Zhu et al. (US 2022/0132517 A1, Provisional application No. 63/105,133, filed on Oct. 23, 2020, hereinafter "Zhu") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Zhou et al. (US 2022/0104036 A1, Provisional application No. 63/085,128, filed on Sep. 29, 2020, hereinafter "Zhou").
Regarding claim 15, Zheng in view of Yi and Zhu does not explicitly disclose wherein a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is lower than a priority of a logical channel to which a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE or data from an uplink channel correspond(s), and is higher than a priority of a logical channel to which a cell-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds;
or, a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is
identical to a priority of a logical channel to which a cell-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds;
or, a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is
lower than a priority of a logical channel to which a cell-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds, and is higher than a priority of a logical channel to which a Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE corresponds;
or, a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is
identical to a priority of a logical channel to which a Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE corresponds;
or, a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is
lower than a priority of a logical channel to which a Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE corresponds, and is higher than a priority of a logical channel to which a listen before talk (LBT) failure MAC CE corresponds;
or, a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is
identical to a priority of a logical channel to which an LBT failure MAC CE corresponds;
or, a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is
lower than a priority of a logical channel to which an LBT failure MAC CE corresponds, and is higher than a priority of a logical channel to which a MAC CE for SL-BSR corresponds (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Zhou from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a priority of a logical channel to which a TRP-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds is lower than a priority of a logical channel to which a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE or data from an uplink channel correspond(s), and is higher than a priority of a logical channel to which a cell-specific BFR MAC CE corresponds (Zhou, [0162] the UE may further identify a BFR logical channel priority (LCP) to the BFR MAC-CE or the truncated BFR MAC-CE, and wherein the transmitting the BFR MAC-CE or the truncated BFR MAC-CE is based on the BFR LCP. In some aspects, the BFR LCP priority is lower than LCPs of cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) MAC-CE data or uplink common control channel (UL-CCCH) data, lower than or the same as LCPs of a configured grant confirmation MAC-CE, a BFR MAC-CE, or a multiple entry configured grant confirmation MAC-CE, higher than LCPs of a sidelink configured grant confirmation MAC-CE, and higher than LCPs of data from any logical channel except data from the UL-CCCH).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to include the teachings of Zhou’s system for beam failure recovery of LCP process into Zheng’s beam failure report process as modified by Yi with a motivation to make this modification in order to improve communication reliability (Zhou, [0057]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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.
Claim 8 is potentially allowable over the prior art of record Zheng et al. (US 2023/0362670 A1, hereinafter "Zheng") in view of Yi et al. (US 2020/0350972 A1, hereinafter "Yi") and Zhu et al. (US 2022/0132517 A1, Provisional application No. 63/105,133, filed on Oct. 23, 2020, hereinafter "Zhu") and as applied to the claim above and further in view of Zhou et al. (US 2022/0104036 A1, Provisional application No. 63/085,128, filed on Sep. 29, 2020, hereinafter "Zhou").
Zheng in view of Yi, Zhu and Zhou fails to teach alone or in combination "
wherein 2 bits in the BFR MAC CE indicate the type of a detected beam failure or the type of triggered beam failure recovery,
a value of the 2 bits indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are not detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is not triggered, and TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are not detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is not triggered; another value of the 2 bits indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered; a further value of the 2 bits indicating that TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered; yet another value of the 2 bits indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam failure
recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered, and TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered;
a value of the 2 bits indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are not detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is not triggered, and non-cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of not all beams are not detected or non-cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not all beams is not triggered; another value of the 2 bits indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered; a further value of the 2 bits indicating that non-cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of not all beams are detected or non-cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not all beams is triggered; yet another value of the 2 bits indicating that cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of all beams are detected or cell-specific beam
failure recovery or beam failure recovery of all beams is triggered, and non-cell-specific beam failures or beam failures of not all beams are detected or non-cell-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not all beams is triggered; and
a value of the 2 bits indicating that non-TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of not a part of beams are not detected or non-TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not a part of beams is not triggered, and TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are not detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is not triggered; another value of the 2 bits indicating that non-TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of not a part of beams are detected or non-TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not a part of beams is triggered; a further value of the 2 bits indicating that TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered; yet another value of the 2 bits indicating that non-TRP-specific
beam failures or beam failures of not a part of beams are detected or non-TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of not a part of beams is triggered, and TRP-specific beam failures or beam failures of a part of beams are detected or TRP-specific beam failure recovery or beam failure recovery of a part of beams is triggered".
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.
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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415