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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 19 December 2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 19 December 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment, filed 19 December 2025, has been entered and carefully considered.
Claims 2, 4, 7-10, 12-28, 30, 32, 34-58 and 60-62 are canceled.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 29, 31, 33 and 59 are amended and currently pending.
The outstanding rejection of Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 29, 31, 33 and 59 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendment to said claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 29 and 59 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 29, 31, 33 and 59 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Independent claims 1, 29 and 59 recite (emphasis added by Office) “the determined CORESET is determined as the target CORESET only when the determined CORESET has at least two TCI states.” The presence of the language “only when” is not supported by Applicant’s specification. Specifically, in addition to the claimed step of determining a target CORESET when a determined CORESET has at least two states (as described in paragraph 0055), the specification also describes determining a target CORESET when the CORESET has at least one TCI state (as described in paragraphs 0028-0035). Therefore, specifically indicating that a determined CORESET is determined as a target CORESET only when the determined CORESET has at least two states is not commensurate with the originally filed disclosure, which contemplates a separate scenario of determining a CORESET with at least one TCI state. Accordingly, this language is found to encompass new matter.
Claims 3, 5, 6, 11, 31 and 33 are rejected by virtue of dependency on Claims 1 and 29.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 29, 31, 33 and 59 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cirik et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2021/0321379), hereinafter Cirik, in view of Viering et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0191748), hereinafter Viering.
Regarding Claim 29, Cirik discloses a terminal device (Figure 15A, wireless device 1502) comprising:
a communication interface (Figure 15A, wireless device 1502 comprises antennas (air interface 1506) coupled due TX processing system 1520 and RX processing system 1522);
a processor coupled to the communication interface (Figure 15A, processing system 1518 is coupled to both TX processing system 1520 and RX processing system 1522); and
a memory configured to store a computer program (Figure 15A and paragraph 0187, memory 1524 stores program instructions);
the processor being configured to execute the computer program (paragraph 0187, the program instructions in the memory 1524 are executed by the processing system 1518) to cause the terminal device to:
receive higher-layer configuration information (Figure 17, element 1712 and paragraph 0221, the wireless device receives configuration parameters from the base station);
determine N control resource sets (CORESETs) and at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of each of the N CORESETs based on the higher-layer configuration information, N being a positive integer (Figure 17, paragraphs 0228 and 0238-0240 – the wireless device determines CORESETs and TCI states based on the received configuration parameters);
determine a target CORESET from the N CORESETs (paragraphs 0238-0240, the wireless device monitors downlink channels for DCI based on respective (i.e., target) CORESETs); and
determine a target TCI state of the target CORESET (paragraphs 0238-0240, the wireless device monitors downlink channels for DCI based on respective (i.e., target) CORESETs and TCI states).
However, Cirik does not disclose determine a target CORESET from the N CORESETs according to a preset rule, wherein the preset rule specifies that among the N CORESETs, a CORESET with a lowest CORESET identifier (ID) is determined, and the determined CORESET is determined as the target CORESET only when the determined CORESET has at least two TCI states; determine a target TCI state of the target CORESET according to a pre-configured manner, wherein the pre-configured manner specifies that a first TCI state of the target CORESET is the target TCI state. In an analogous art, Viering discloses this. Specifically, Viering discloses configuring an SSB as a QCL source for DMRS for PDCCH receptions in the CORESET#0 (i.e., CORESET with a lowest CORESET ID) determined from the CORESET index configured for the target cell so that the lowest or highest (or one of the CORESET index, determined by UE or configured by network) CORESET index value is selected and the QCL source SSB of one of the downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) indicated by active TCI states (i.e., at least two TCI states) (refer to paragraph 0034). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cirik and Viering. One would have been motivated to do so in order to perform radio resource control reconfiguration during a handover from a first cell to a second cell (paragraph 0003 of Viering).
Claim 1 comprises the same limitations as the terminal device in Claim 29, claimed as a method. Therefore, Claim 1 is rejected based on the same rationale as presented above.
Claim 59 is claimed as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program being executed by a processor of a terminal device to cause the terminal device to perform the same steps recited as a method in Claim 1 and as a terminal device in Claim 29. Cirik discloses, at Figure 15A and paragraph 0187, the program instructions in the memory 1524 are executed by the processing system 1518 to perform the claimed steps as described above with regard to Claim 29. For the remaining limitations, Claim 59 is rejected based on the same rationale as presented above in Claim 29.
Regarding Claims 3 and 31, Cirik discloses the target TCI state is used for determining a target quasi co-location (QCL) assumption, wherein the target QCL assumption is used for aperiodic channel state information-reference signal (AP CSI-RS) transmission (paragraphs 0276-0277, the TCI state indicates a QCL type and is used for reference signals which can be an aperiodic CSI-RS) and/or for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission (paragraphs 0276-0277, the TCI state indicates a QCL type and is used for reference signals which can be an PDSCH).
Regarding Claims 5 and 33, Cirik discloses the target TCI state is used for determining at least one of a path loss reference signal (PL-RS) (Figure 17, paragraphs 0245-0246 – the UE receives configuration parameters including a plurality of TCI states and enabling parameter for determination/selection of a default path loss reference signal for the uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUCCH, SRS, PUSCH, etc.)) and a beam (paragraph 0282 - the wireless device may determine the spatial domain transmission filter based on the reference signal indicated by the TCI state of the selected CORESET among the plurality of CORESETs), wherein the beam comprises at least one of: a beam for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission; a beam for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission (paragraph 0282, the beam is for PUSCH transmission, thereby meeting the claimed alternative limitation); a beam for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; a beam for AP CSI-RS transmission; or a beam for PDSCH transmission.
Regarding Claim 6, Cirik discloses the PL-RS comprises at least one of: a PL-RS for determining a PL of PUCCH transmission power; a PL-RS for determining a PL of PUSCH transmission power; or a PL-RS for determining a PL of SRS transmission power (Figure 17, paragraph 0246 – the received configuration parameters/TCI state are used for determining a path loss reference signal for PUCCH, SRS, or PUSCH, thereby meeting the claimed alternative limitation)
Regarding Claim 11, Cirik discloses the target QCL assumption is used for transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate (Figures 14B and 17, paragraphs 0175-0176 and 0238-0241 – based on the CORESET (and its corresponding TCI state and QCL assumption), the wireless device monitors a set of PDCCH candidates).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW W. CHRISS whose telephone number is (571)272-1774. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm ET.
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/ANDREW W CHRISS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472