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 .
Summary
This action is in reply to Applicant’s Amendments and Remarks filed on 04/09/2026.
Claims 1-30 are pending.
Claims 1-16 are elected for prosecution.
Claims 17-30 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/09/2026 have been fully considered to be persuasive. Accordingly the previous rejection has been withdrawn.
However, upon further search and consideration claims are rejected based on combination of new prior arts in this office action.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 7, 9-10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. (US 20220022250 A1, of IDS, hereinafter ‘CIRIK’) in view of Cirik et al. (US 20220353940 A1, hereinafter ‘CIRIK940’).
Regarding claim 1, CIRIK teaches a method at an apparatus (
Fig. 3 Wireless Device 110,
[0195] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of base stations (base station 1, 120A, and base station 2, 120B) and a wireless device 110. A wireless device may be called an UE. A base station may be called a NB, eNB, gNB, and/or ng-eNB.
[0208] The wireless device 110 may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non-transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314.
[0212] The communication interface 320A of the base station 1, 120A, and/or the communication interface 320B of the base station 2, 120B, may be configured to communicate with the communication interface 310 of the wireless device 110 via a wireless link 330A and/or a wireless link 330B respectively.
[0213] The wireless link 330A and/or the wireless link 330B may comprise at least one of a bi-directional link and/or a directional link. ….. The wireless link 330A and/or the wireless link 330B may employ at least one frequency carrier.
[0261] a base station may not configure a UE without a common search space on a PCell, or on a PSCell, in an active DL BWP.
Fig. 11, Master Base Station MN 1130, Secondary Base Station SN 1150
[0274] In multi-connectivity, a configured set of serving cells for a wireless device may comprise two subsets: an MCG comprising serving cells of a master base station, and SCGs comprising serving cells of a secondary base station.
[0288] In an example, at least one cell in a SCG may have a configured UL CC, wherein a cell of at least one cell may be called PSCell or PCell of SCG, or sometimes may be simply called PCell. A PSCell may be configured with PUCCH.
(Construed that SCG include a PSCell or PCell or carrier with both DL and UL directions, and a second cell or carrier for UL direction)), comprising:
receiving, in a downlink on a first cell, scheduling information configured to schedule a secondary uplink on a second cell, different from the first cell (
[0461] For example, a base station may configure a NUL and DL over a first frequency (e.g., high frequency). An SUL may be configured over a second frequency (e.g., low frequency) to support uplink transmission (e.g., in terms of coverage and/or capacity) of a cell. ….. a wireless device located outside a NUL coverage but inside an SUL coverage may start a random access procedure via an SUL.
[0467] … SUL configured in SCell ….
[0474] configured, by a base station, with an SUL carrier of a cell. When the wireless device is configured with the SUL carrier, the wireless device may be configured with two or more uplink carriers (e.g., SUL and NUL) for one downlink of the cell. …
[0475] In an example, the base station may avoid overlapping (e.g., in time) of a first uplink transmission (e.g., PUSCH) via the SUL carrier and a second uplink transmission (e.g., PUSCH) via the NUL carrier by scheduling. In an example, the base station may configure one or more PUSCH resources (e.g., PUSCH-Config) for the SUL carrier. …….The wireless device may receive a downlink control information (DCI) comprising a carrier indicator field. The DCI may indicate an uplink grant. In an example, a value of the carrier indicator field in the DCI may indicate an UL carrier (e.g., NUL carrier or SUL carrier) of the one or more UL carriers to perform one or more PUSCH transmissions.
(NUL and single DL over first carrier or first cell, Wireless device receives DCI carrying UL grant for SUL of SCell or second cell SCell in DL over first carrier or first cell));
at least one of:
receiving downlink reference signals on the first cell (
[0459] For a random access procedure in licensed bands, based on a measurement (e.g., RSRP) of one or more DL pathloss references, a wireless device may determine which carrier (e.g., between NUL and SUL) to use. For example, a wireless device may select a first uplink carrier (e.g., SUL or NUL carrier) if a measured quality (e.g., RSRP) of DL pathloss references is lower than a broadcast threshold (e.g., an RRC parameter, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL).
[0463] a base station may configure a wireless device (e.g., a wireless device in RRC Connected) with one or more measurements on one or more DL reference signals associated with NUL carrier(s) ….. of a cell.
[0464] For example, if a wireless device transmits quality information of one or more measurements on one or more DL reference signals associated with NUL carrier(s) …… a base station may select a carrier between NUL carrier(s) and/or SUL carrier(s) based on the quality of the one or more measurements.
[0521] In an example, the wireless device may measure/assess the one or more first pathloss RSs (e.g., SSB/PBCH block, CSI-RS) for a path loss estimation.
See also [0518-0519]), or
receiving radio resource control signaling configuring a third cell on which the downlink reference signals are received, the third cell being the same as or different from the first cell (
[0196] ….. At RRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide the security input. This cell may be referred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). ….Depending on wireless device capabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) may be configured to form together with a PCell a set of serving cells.
[0198] A base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more messages (e.g. RRC messages) comprising a plurality of configuration parameters for one or more cells. One or more cells may comprise at least one primary cell and at least one secondary cell.
[0203] When CA is configured, a wireless device may have an RRC connection with a network. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover procedure, one serving cell may provide NAS mobility information…..
[0204] The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells may be performed by RRC.
[0461] For example, a base station may configure a NUL and DL over a first frequency (e.g., high frequency).
[0463] a base station may configure a wireless device (e.g., a wireless device in RRC Connected) with one or more measurements on one or more DL reference signals associated with NUL carrier(s).
(Construed multiple NULL carriers are RRC configured for receiving DL reference signal)), and
receiving the downlink reference signals on the third cell (
[0464] For example, if a wireless device transmits quality information of one or more measurements on one or more DL reference signals associated with NUL carrier(s)); and
transmitting the secondary uplink on the second cell (
[0350] a random access resource selection is performed when Msg3 is being retransmitted, a wireless device may select the same group of Random Access Preambles as was used for the Random Access Preamble transmission attempt corresponding to the first transmission of Msg3.
[0461] An SUL may be configured over a second frequency (e.g., low frequency) to support uplink transmission (e.g., in terms of coverage and/or capacity) of a cell. In an example, a broadcast threshold (e.g., an RRC parameter, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL) for a wireless device to select a carrier may be determined such that a wireless device located outside a NUL coverage but inside an SUL coverage may start a random access procedure via an SUL.
[0475] …. a value of the carrier indicator field in the DCI may indicate an UL carrier (e.g., … SUL carrier) of the one or more UL carriers to perform one or more PUSCH transmissions.
[0488] In an example, a wireless device may initiate a random-access procedure on a serving cell (e.g., PCell, SCell). In an example, a measured quality (e.g., RSRP) of downlink pathloss reference of the serving cell may be lower than an uplink carrier threshold (e.g., an RRC parameter, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL). In an example, when a base station does not indicate/signal (e.g., explicitly), to the wireless device, an UL carrier to use for the random-access procedure on the serving cell and the serving cell is configured with a higher layer SUL parameter, the wireless device may select the SUL carrier to perform the random-access procedure in response to the measured quality (e.g., RSRP) of the downlink pathloss reference of the serving cell being lower than the uplink carrier threshold.).
CIRIK does not explicitly disclose receiving scheduling information configured to schedule a secondary uplink on a second cell different from the first cell.
In an analogous art, CIRIK940 teaches receiving scheduling information configured to schedule a secondary uplink on a second cell different from the first cell (
[0220] An eNB may initiate an RA procedure, via a PDCCH order, for an activated SCell. The PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell of this SCell. If cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, the scheduling cell may be different than the cell that is employed for preamble transmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index.
[0306] The DCI may be transmitted on a current active BWP, and scheduling information may be for a new BWP, for example, for the DCI with data assignment. There may be a single active BWP. There may be one DCI in a slot for scheduling the current BWP or scheduling another BWP.
[0336] An SCell may be for UL only. For the UL only SCell, the wireless device may transmit on the indicated UL BWP, for example, if a wireless device receives a grant.
[0339] One or more BWPs may be semi-statically configured via wireless device-specific RRC signaling. If a wireless device maintains RRC connection with a primary component carrier (CC), the BWP in a secondary CC may be configured via RRC signaling in the primary CC.
[0344] A BWP on SCell may be activated by means of cross-cell scheduling DCI. The cross-cell scheduling may be configured for a wireless device. The base station may activate a BWP on the SCell by indicating CIF and BWP in the scheduling DCI.
[0345] A wireless device and/or base station may perform synchronization tracking within an active DL BWP without a SS block. A tracking reference signal (TRS) and/or the DL BWP configuration may be configured. A DL BWP with a SS block or TRS may be configured as a reference for synchronization tracking.
[0346] SS-block based RRM measurements may be decoupled within the BWP framework. Measurement configurations for each RRM and CSI feedback may be independently configured from the BWP configurations.
See [0419] an SCell that is cross-carrier scheduled by a serving cell (e.g., a cell other than the SCell.
[0433] A base station may transmit one or more messages comprising configuration parameters for one or more DL BWPs and/or one or more UL BWPs for a cell. The one or more BWPs may comprise at least one BWP as the active DL BWP or the active UL BWP, and/or zero or one BWP as the default DL BWP or the default UL BWP. For a PCell, the active DL BWP may be the DL BWP on which the wireless device may monitor one or more PDCCH and/or receive PDSCH. The active UL BWP may be the UL BWP on which the wireless device may transmit an uplink signal. For an SCell ….. active UL BWP may be the UL BWP on which the wireless device may transmit PRACH and/or PUCCH (e.g., if configured) and/or PUSCH…)
(It is obvious that CIRIK940 disclosing receiving, in an active downlink BWP on a first cell with DL and UL similar to NUL of CIRIK, scheduling information configured to schedule a secondary uplink on a UL only second cell similar to SUL of CIRIK, different from the first cell, measures reference signal on DL BWP of the first cell, and transmitting on the secondary uplink on the UL only second cell)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to take the technique of scheduling a UL only Scell, similar to SUL of CIRIK, for uplink transmission by another cell with DL of CIRIK940 to the technique of selecting an uplink carrier among the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a measured SSB quality for a random-access procedure of the cell of CIRIK in order to take the advantage of a method providing improved wireless communications without adversely increasing signaling overhead and/or decreasing spectral efficiency while increasing uplink resources (CIRIK940: [0002, 0336]).
Regarding claim 2, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940, teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the secondary uplink has no associated downlink in the second cell (
[0461] For example, a base station may configure a NUL and DL over a first frequency (e.g., high frequency). An SUL may be configured over a second frequency (e.g., low frequency) to support uplink transmission (e.g., in terms of coverage and/or capacity) of a cell.
[0474] configured, by a base station, with an SUL carrier of a cell. When the wireless device is configured with the SUL carrier, the wireless device may be configured with two or more uplink carriers (e.g., SUL and NUL) for one downlink of the cell. …
See also CIRIK940 [0336, 0344, 0419, 0433] disclosing a second cell SCell may be for UL only or SUL, being scheduled by first cell with DL and NUL different than second cell).
Regarding claim 7, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940, teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the secondary uplink on the second cell, and
another uplink on at least one of: the first cell, or the third cell belong to a same timing advance group (TAG) (
[0460] In an example, a base station may configure NUL and SUL with a TAG. For example, for an uplink transmission of a first uplink carrier (e.g., SUL) of a cell, a wireless device may employ a TA value received during a random access procedure via a second uplink carrier (e.g., NUL) of the cell.
See also CIRIK940 Fig. 8 pTAG with PCell and SCell1).
Regarding claim 9, the claim is interpreted mutatis mutandis of claim 1 and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 7.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 3-4 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. (US 20220022250 A1, of IDS, hereinafter ‘CIRIK’) in view of Cirik et al. (US 20220353940 A1, hereinafter ‘CIRIK940’) and with further in view of LEI et al. (US 20210045159 A1, of record, hereinafter ‘LEI’).
Regarding claim 3, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940, teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting the secondary uplink on the second cell at a transmit power level determined with the downlink reference signals received on the at least one of:
the first cell in response to receiving the downlink reference signals on the first cell (
[0225] …. In downlink, a base station may transmit (e.g., unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast) one or more RSs to a UE. For example, the one or more RSs may be at least one of Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) 521 ….
[0320] In an example, a base station may transmit one or more RRC message to configure a wireless device at least one of following parameters:
[0321] prach-ConfigIndex: the available set of PRACH occasions for the transmission of the Random Access Preamble
[0322] preambleReceivedTargetPower: initial Random Access Preamble power;
[0323] rsrp-ThresholdSSB: an RSRP threshold for the selection of the SSB and corresponding Random Access Preamble and/or PRACH occasion…..
[0345] In an example, a wireless device may employ one or more parameters for a random access procedure. For example, a wireless device may employ at least one of PREAMBLE_INDEX; PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER; PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER; PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP; PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER;
[0456] A base station may transmit, to a wireless device, one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters for a carrier, wherein the configuration parameters may indicate at least one of random access procedure configuration, …. and/or a power control parameters.
[0457] In an example, a base station may configure an SUL carrier and a NUL carrier to support a random access procedure (e.g., initial access). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, to support a random access to a cell configured with SUL, a base station may configure a RACH configuration 1210 of SUL independent of a RACH configuration 1210 of NUL.
[0488] In an example, a wireless device may initiate a random-access procedure on a serving cell (e.g., PCell, SCell). In an example, a measured quality (e.g., RSRP) of downlink pathloss reference of the serving cell may be lower than an uplink carrier threshold (e.g., an RRC parameter, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL). In an example, when a base station does not indicate/signal (e.g., explicitly), to the wireless device, an UL carrier to use for the random-access procedure on the serving cell and the serving cell is configured with a higher layer SUL parameter, the wireless device may select the SUL carrier to perform the random-access procedure in response to the measured quality (e.g., RSRP) of the downlink pathloss reference of the serving cell being lower than the uplink carrier threshold.
[0521] In an example, the wireless device may measure/assess the one or more first pathloss RSs (e.g., SSB/PBCH block, CSI-RS) for a path loss estimation.
(Construed that UE transmits on SUL with an uplink configured power based on measurement result of SSB as downlink reference signals for NUL or SUL selection)
See also CIRIK940 [0336, 0344, 0419, 0433] disclosing a second cell SCell may be for UL only or SUL, being scheduled by first cell with DL and NUL different than second cell.), or
the third cell in response to receiving the radio resource control signaling configuring the third cell.
CIRIK and CIRIK940 do not explicitly disclose transmitting the secondary uplink on the second cell with at a transmit power level or with a timing control determined with the downlink reference signals received on the at least one of:
the first cell in response to receiving the downlink reference signals on the first cell, or
the third cell in response to receiving the radio resource control signaling configuring the third cell.
In an analogous art, LEI teaches transmitting the secondary uplink on the second cell with at a transmit power level or with a timing control determined with the downlink reference signals received on the at least one of:
the first cell in response to receiving the downlink reference signals on the first cell (
[0095] A UE is typically provided with N synchronization signal (SS) and/or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs), with each SSB associated with one msgA occasion. If N is less than one, then one SS block may be mapped to 1/N sets of message RACH occasion (RO) and message physical resource units (PRU). If N is greater than or equal to one, then N consecutive SS blocks may be mapped to a set of message ROs and message PRUs….
(It is obvious that UE determines SSB as timing control reference)
[0096] In some cases, the strength in which an SSB is detected may impact the criteria for validating a msgA transmission occasion. For example, a UE may be provided with M thresholds for the signal quality measurement (S.sub.i), sorted ascending order (e.g., S.sub.1<S.sub.2< . . . S.sub.M) ….
[0097] In some cases, the validation criteria may involve the signal quality measurement (S.sub.i) being above a first threshold level.
[0099] In certain aspects, the validation criteria may depend on at least one of a maximum power of the UE and bandwidth available for selected message transmission occasion.
[0101] As illustrated, the BS may broadcast the SSB, system information block (SIB), and reference signal (RS) with system information (or RRC signaling) with configuration information for the two-step RACH procedure. As illustrated, the UE performs Layer 1 (L1) reference signal receive power (RSRP) measurement (e.g., of the SSBs).
[0102] The UE may select an msgA occasion (associated with the detected SSB) and evaluate (validate) the selected msgA occasion based on the L1-RSRP measurement and size of the msgA payload, as described above. In some cases, the evaluation may also consider other factors, such as the maximum transmission power
[0105] In some cases, the criteria for validating a selected msgA transmission occasion may involve the processing capabilities of the UE……. The validation may also involve the UE's capability to support carrier aggregation (CA), dual connectivity (DC), and supplementary uplink (SUL)
(It is obvious that UE transmits the secondary uplink on SUL or the second cell at a transmit power level with a timing control determined based on received SSB as at a PCell or SCell, as well known in the art, when UE supporting CA and DC uses a SUL)), or
the third cell in response to receiving the radio resource control signaling configuring the third cell.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to take the technique of measuring SSB as downlink reference signals for timing control and uplink transmission power control to support carrier aggregation (CA), dual connectivity (DC), and supplementary uplink (SUL) of LEI to the technique of selecting an uplink carrier among the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a measured SSB quality for a random-access procedure of the cell of CIRIK and CIRIK940 in order to take the advantage of a method providing improved reliability of message decoding and reduced complexity of blind decoding using a finite set of ROs and PRUs for reducing monitoring overhead (blind decodes) by a base station for further improvements in NR and LTE technology (LEI: [0005, 0006, 0078]).
Regarding claim 4, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940, teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
using the downlink reference signals in connection with at least one of:
layer 3 radio resource management (L3 RRM),
layer 1 beam management/inter-cell beam management (L1 BM/ICBM),
determining a transmit power level (
See [0225. 0321-0323, 0345, 0456, 0488] cited for claim 3.), or
determining a timing control,
in association with the secondary uplink on the second cell and another uplink on at least one of: the first cell, or the third cell (
[0459] For a random access procedure in licensed bands, based on a measurement (e.g., RSRP) of one or more DL pathloss references, a wireless device may determine which carrier (e.g., between NUL and SUL) to use. For example, a wireless device may select a first uplink carrier (e.g., SUL or NUL carrier) if a measured quality (e.g., RSRP) of DL pathloss references is lower than a broadcast threshold (e.g., an RRC parameter, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL). If a wireless device selects a carrier between SUL carrier and NUL carrier for a random access procedure, one or more uplink transmissions associated with the random access procedure may remain on the selected uplink carrier.
See also [0462, 0488] cited for claim 3
See also CIRIK940 [0336, 0344, 0419, 0433] disclosing a second cell SCell may be for UL only or SUL, being scheduled by first cell with DL and NUL different than second cell).
CIRIK and CIRIK940 do not explicitly disclose using the downlink reference signals in connection with at least one of:
layer 3 radio resource management (L3 RRM),
layer 1 beam management/inter-cell beam management (L1 BM/ICBM),
determining a transmit power level,
determining a timing control,
in association with the secondary uplink on the second cell and another uplink on at least one of: the first cell, or the third cell.
LEI teaches using the downlink reference signals in connection with at least one of:
layer 3 radio resource management (L3 RRM),
layer 1 beam management/inter-cell beam management (L1 BM/ICBM),
determining a transmit power level,
determining a timing control,
in association with the secondary uplink on the second cell and another uplink on at least one of: the first cell, or the third cell (
[0095] A UE is typically provided with N synchronization signal (SS) and/or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs), with each SSB associated with one msgA occasion. If N is less than one, then one SS block may be mapped to 1/N sets of message RACH occasion (RO) and message physical resource units (PRU). If N is greater than or equal to one, then N consecutive SS blocks may be mapped to a set of message ROs and message PRUs….
(It is obvious that UE determines SSB as timing control reference)
See [0096-0097, 0099, 0101] cited for claim 3, and further-
[0102] The UE may select an msgA occasion (associated with the detected SSB) and evaluate (validate) the selected msgA occasion based on the L1-RSRP measurement and size of the msgA payload, as described above. In some cases, the evaluation may also consider other factors, such as the maximum transmission power
[0105] In some cases, the criteria for validating a selected msgA transmission occasion may involve the processing capabilities of the UE……. The validation may also involve the UE's capability to support carrier aggregation (CA), dual connectivity (DC), and supplementary uplink (SUL)
(It is obvious that UE transmits the secondary uplink on SUL or the second cell at a transmit power level with a timing control determined based on received SSB as at a PCell or SCell, as well known in the art, when UE supporting CA and DC uses a SUL)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to take the technique of measuring SSB as downlink reference signals for timing control and uplink transmission power control to support carrier aggregation (CA), dual connectivity (DC), and supplementary uplink (SUL) of LEI to the technique of selecting an uplink carrier among the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a measured SSB quality for a random-access procedure of the cell of CIRIK and CIRIK940 in order to take the advantage of a method providing improved reliability of message decoding and reduced complexity of blind decoding using a finite set of ROs and PRUs for reducing monitoring overhead (blind decodes) by a base station for further improvements in NR and LTE technology (LEI: [0005, 0006, 0078]).
Regarding claim 11, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 3.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 4.
Claims 5-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. (US 20220022250 A1, of IDS, hereinafter ‘CIRIK’) in view of Cirik et al. (US 20220353940 A1, hereinafter ‘CIRIK940’) and with further in view of Freda et al. (US 20200396654 A1, of record, hereinafter ‘FREDA’).
Regarding claim 5, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940, teaches the method of claim 1.
CIRIK and CIRIK940 do not explicitly disclose further comprising:
independently executing mobility determinations for the secondary uplink on the second cell and another uplink on at least one of: the first cell, or the third cell (
although CIRIK discloses -
[0203] When CA is configured, a wireless device may have an RRC connection with a network. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover procedure, one serving cell may provide NAS mobility information…..
[0204] The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells may be performed by RRC. At intra-NR handover, RRC may also add, remove, or reconfigure SCells for usage with the target PCell.
[0461] For example, a base station may configure a NUL and DL over a first frequency (e.g., high frequency). An SUL may be configured over a second frequency (e.g., low frequency) to support uplink transmission (e.g., in terms of coverage and/or capacity) of a cell. In an example, a broadcast threshold (e.g., an RRC parameter, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL) for a wireless device to select a carrier may be determined such that a wireless device located outside a NUL coverage but inside an SUL coverage may start a random access procedure via an SUL. A wireless device located inside a NUL coverage may start a random access procedure via a NUL.
[0464] For example, if a wireless device transmits quality information of one or more measurements on one or more DL reference signals associated with NUL carrier(s) and/or SUL carrier(s), a base station may select a carrier between NUL carrier(s) and/or SUL carrier(s) based on the quality of the one or more measurements. A base station may indicate, to a wireless device, a selected uplink carrier via RRC signaling (e.g., handover) and/or PDCCH order (e.g., SCell addition) for initiating a (contention free or contention based) random access procedure. ….. For example, based on one or more measurement reports associated with NUL carrier(s) and/or SUL carrier(s), a base station may better select a carrier (e.g., NUL or SUL) of a target cell for a (contention free or contention based) random access procedure for a handover.
See also CIRIK940 [0336, 0344, 0419, 0433] disclosing a second cell SCell may be for UL only or SUL, being scheduled by first cell with DL and NUL different than second cell).
In an analogous art, FREDA teaches independently executing mobility determinations for the secondary uplink on the second cell and another uplink on at least one of: the first cell, or the third cell (
Fig. 2, [0084] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example coverage map 200 of a cell 202 (e.g., a gNB). In high frequencies (e.g., high new radio (NR) frequencies), UL coverage of the cell 202 may be significantly less than DL coverage of the cell 202. The cell 202 may include a Supplementary UL (SUL), which for example, may be a lower frequency than the regular UL (RUL) and the downlink (DL) of the cell 202. The RUL and SUL may be paired with each DL of a cell (e.g., an SCell). A WTRU 204 may camp on the SUL when RSRP<SUL_threshold (e.g., when RSRP of the RUL is <SUL_threshold (e.g., when RSRP of the RUL is <SUL_threshold)……. The examples provided herein may, for example, be used to ensure that a WTRU camps on a cell having the best combination of downlink and uplink coverage in an environment with mixed SUL/non-SUL support.).
[0156] WTRU behavior may adapt based on a triggering condition. For example, the WTRU may (e.g. in foregoing examples) inform lower layers of a need to switch to an SUL. A WTRU may (e.g. further) initiate a procedure in lower layers that may be associated with informing an NW of a UL switch. Upper layer(s) may initiate one or more lower-layer procedures such as, for example, one or more of the following: (i) initiation of a RACH procedure or RACH-like procedure in an SUL; (ii) transmission of an RRC message on a currently configured UL (e.g. RUL); (iii) transmission on a PUCCH (e.g. SR or other indication) on an SUL (e.g. when resources may be configured), and/or (iii) transmission of an RRC message on a master node (e.g. eNB/gNB), for example, when a WTRU may be configured with DC and/or when RUL/SUL configurations may be associated with transmission on a secondary node (SN) (e.g. gNB).
[0158] a WTRU may transmit a switch indication message as an RRC message on an RUL, or as an RRC message to an MN (e.g. when a switch to SUL may be associated with an SN).
(It is obvious that mobility for SUL for Cell switch is associated with SN independent of Master Cell or MN the first Cell)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to take the technique of SUL mobility in DC of FREDA to the technique of selecting an uplink carrier among the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a measured SSB quality for a random-access procedure of the cell of CIRIK and CIRK940 in order to take the advantage of a method providing for improved quality to meet service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements and mobility requirements (FREDA: [0028, 0158, 0223]).
Regarding claim 6, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940 and FREDA, teaches the method of claim 5.
CIRIK and CIRIK940 do not explicitly disclose where the mobility determinations correspond to at least one of:
a cell-change,
a cell-switch,
a beam-change, or
a beam-switch.
FREDA teaches where the mobility determinations correspond to at least one of:
a cell-change,
a cell-switch,
a beam-change, or
a beam-switch (
See FREDA [0156, 0158] cited above for Claim 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to take the technique of SUL mobility in DC of FREDA to the technique of selecting an uplink carrier among the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a measured SSB quality for a random-access procedure of the cell of CIRIK and CIRIK940 in order to take the advantage of a method providing for improved quality to meet service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements and mobility requirements (FREDA: [0028, 0158, 0223]).
Regarding claim 13, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 5.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 6.
Claims 8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al. (US 20220022250 A1, of IDS, hereinafter ‘CIRIK’) in view of Cirik et al. (US 20220353940 A1, hereinafter ‘CIRIK940’) and with further in view of Sato et al. (US 20210068147 A1, of record, hereinafter ‘SATO’).
Regarding claim 8, CIRIK, in view of CIRIK940, teaches the method of claim 1, deactivation of the at least one of:
the first cell, or
the third cell (
[0194] The base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating activation and/or deactivation of the CSI transmission on the one or more cells. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station may transmit a MA CE indicating activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells).
CIRIK and CIRIK940 do not explicitly disclose wherein upon deactivation of the at least one of:
the first cell, or
the third cell, respectively, the method further comprises at least one of:
deactivating the secondary uplink on the second cell,
disabling the scheduling of the secondary uplink on the second cell, or
switching a monitoring of the downlink reference signals from the second cell in association with the secondary uplink to at least one of:
a cell within a band, a band set, or a frequency range (FR) where the secondary uplink is configured,
a cell within a timing advance group (TAG) where the secondary uplink is configured,
a cell based on a cell index, or
a cell based on a rule established by an implementation of the apparatus.
In analogous art, SATO teaches wherein upon deactivation of the at least one of:
the first cell, or
the third cell (
Fig. 5 Message 505,
[0039] Subsequently, a SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 505 indicating deactivation of the serving cell (SCell) is transmitted from the base station apparatus to the mobile station apparatus ….), respectively, the method further comprises at least one of:
deactivating the secondary uplink on the second cell,
disabling the scheduling of the secondary uplink on the second cell (
Fig. 5 State 555 Grant Free State of SUL Carrier Suspended,
[0039] Subsequently, a SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 505 indicating deactivation of the serving cell (SCell) is transmitted from the base station apparatus to the mobile station apparatus. The mobile station apparatus that has received the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE 505 suspends the configured uplink grant of GF for the SUL carrier (555)), or
switching a monitoring of the downlink reference signals from the second cell in association with the secondary uplink to at least one of:
a cell within a band, a band set, or a frequency range (FR) where the secondary uplink is configured,
a cell within a timing advance group (TAG) where the secondary uplink is configured,
a cell based on a cell index, or
a cell based on a rule established by an implementation of the apparatus.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to take the technique of Supplementary Uplink (SUL) operation of SATO to the technique of selecting an uplink carrier among the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a measured SSB quality for a random-access procedure of the cell of CIRIK and CIRIK940 in order to take the advantage of a method providing for control of uplink transmission to prevent transmissions on normal uplink and a SUL in a radio resource (slot) at the same time enabling communication to be performed normally even in a case that multiple configured uplink grants are configured in a single serving cell while servicing larger coverage area with SUL when normal uplink carrier has narrower coverage area (SATO: [0004, 0007-0008]).
Regarding claim 16, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Babaei et al. (US 20220077999 A1), describing Selection Of Grant And CSI
Liu et al. (US 20200120708 A1), describing Uplink Resource Grant Method And Apparatus, And System
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/SHAH M RAHMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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