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 .
Response to Amendment
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s reply, filed on 03/02/2026, to the Non-Final Office Action mailed on 12/04/2025.
Claim 16 is amended. Claims 17-31 are canceled. Therefore, claim 16 is pending and addressed below.
Applicant has incorporated previously presented dependent claims 18, 19 and 22 into the amended independent claim 16.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because the sequence of limitations is not properly presented. Presenting the limitation determining QCL of GC-PDCCH, as recited in “determine at least one quasi co-location assumption for reception of the group common physical downlink control channel based on at least one quasi co-location assumption of the at least one periodic tracking reference signal with failed reception, and wherein the quasi co- location assumption comprises an indication of an average delay, doppler shift and a spatial reception parameter”, after the limitations which recite already processing of GC-PDCCH for aperiodic TRS, does not present the steps in correct order.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XIAO, Weimin; et al WO 2019195171 A1, hereinafter XIAO, in view of NPL R1-1912707, Ericsson, DL signals and channels for NR-U, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #98bis, Reno, USA, 18th – 22th November 2019, hereinafter NPL-E, and further in view of MANOLAKOS; Alexandros et al US 20230239106 A1, hereinafter MANOLAKOS.
Regarding claim 16, XIAO teaches, an apparatus (see XIAO Figure 10A), comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor cause the apparatus to:
obtain a configuration of at least one periodic tracking reference signal resource set (XIAO page 14 of 45, lines 13-15, “Current specification stated that "A UE in RRC connected mode is expected to receive the higher layer UE specific configuration of a CSI -RS resource set configured with higher layer parameter TRS-Info" and this is for periodic TRS.”);
obtain a configuration of one or more aperiodic tracking reference signal resource sets (XIAO page 4 of 45, lines 22-23 “receiving, by the UE, a configuration message with multiple sets of aperiodic TRSs”);
obtain an index to at least one of the one or more aperiodic tracking reference signal resource sets and at least one associated index to a synchronization signal block based on the received aperiodic tracking reference signal trigger command to determine parameters for reception of at least one aperiodic tracking reference signal (XIAO page 10, lines 26-32 “Aperiodic TRS burst 125 may be triggered by a transmission, such as downlink control information (DCI) 129, occurring prior to aperiodic TRS burst 125. … As an example, DCI 129 indicates where the TRS message will be located. Subsequent to DCI 129, a receiving device will know when the TRS message is to be transmitted based on the DCI information”; page 19, lines 18-21 “The reception of a TRS burst transmission also requires receiver spatial QCL information to be provided to the UE. According to an example embodiment, the receiver spatial QCL information may refer to a wide beam (and its associated RS signal, such as a synchronization signal block (SSB) …, lines 30-32 “The trigger signaling in the DCI conveys which TCI state and QCL assumption to be used for TRS burst reception, for example. The UE may then use the indicated TCI state and QCL assumption to receive the triggered aperiodic TRS burst transmission”, page 20, lines 16-17 “Alternatively, the sets of TCI states and QCL information (especially the spatial receiver QCL parameters) share the same set of RSs for spatial receiver parameters.”, teaches obtaining, from the trigger, location (=index to aperiodic TRS) of aperiodic TRS, and TCI state and QCL information associated with SSB, thereby, suggesting associated index to a corresponding synchronization signal block), and receiver parameters of triggered aperiodic TRS reception); and
receive the at least one aperiodic tracking reference signal based on the parameters (see XIAO page 19, lines 31-32“The UE may then use the indicated TCI state and QCL assumption to receive the triggered aperiodic TRS burst transmission”), wherein the parameters comprise a frequency domain allocation in relation to a common resource grid of a network node, a time domain allocation, symbol positions in a slot, and a quasi-co location assumption associated with the at least one periodic tracking reference signal with failed reception based on the synchronization signal block index (XIAO page 11, lines 27-34, teaches parameters in Frequency domain, Time domain, and symbol position in a slot; page 17, lines 7-8, teaches QCL assumption “the associated aperiodic TRS burst and periodic TRS may have the same QCL assumptions”),
wherein the triggering command comprises an indication of a time interval between the triggering command and the slot wherein the at least one aperiodic tracking reference signal is transmitted; (XIAO page 35, lines 27-30, “When the UE receives triggering information through detection of DCI in PDCCH, the CSI-RS resources are transmitted by the gNB according to the triggering timing (where DCI is and noted as slot n) and the offset value (noted ask slots or aperiodicTriggeringOffset) between triggered DCI and the first transmission slot (noted as slot n+k)”, teaches slot offset (=time interval) between the triggering DCI and ap-TRS),
determine at least one quasi co-location assumption for reception of the group common physical downlink control channel based on at least one quasi co-location assumption of the at least one periodic tracking reference signal with failed reception (XIAO page 16, lines 9-18, “According to an embodiment, a TRS burst is used as the source of QCL assumptions for parameters including, but not limited to, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread for receiving signals (such as DMRS for physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) … A UE receives the TRS burst transmission and estimates the channel characteristics, including Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, etc., and uses the estimated channel characteristics to receive other signals, including DMRS for PDCCH and PDSCH, CSI-RS, and so forth.”, teaches QCL (Quasi Co-Location) for PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) is based on previously received TRS. As PDCCH is received after periodic TRS, it is inherent that QCL for PDCCH is determined based on the periodic TRS. As established earlier, NPL-E suggests and MANOLAKOS expressly teaches using GC-PDCCH (group common PDCCH) for downlink control information, therefore, same QCL determination method can obviously be applied to GC-PDCCH), and wherein the quasi co- location assumption comprises an indication of an average delay, doppler shift and a spatial reception parameter (XIAO page 16, lines 9-11 “QCL assumptions for parameters including, but not limited to, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread for receiving signals”).
XIAO does not expressly teach, however, in the same field of endeavor, NPL-E teaches, obtain a configuration of a group common physical downlink control channel and a monitoring window for reception of an aperiodic tracking reference signal triggering command through the group common physical downlink control channel (The limitation is understood as obtaining information on a timing window for receiving physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for activation of aperiodic tracking reference signal (ap-TRS). NPL-E page 18, 2nd paragraph, in relation to ap-TRS, "With ap-TRS, CSI-RS for time/frequency tracking can be frequency division multiplexed ... within a shared COT", suggests that the claimed "monitoring window" directly corresponds to the "COT" (i.e., "Channel Occupancy Time'' for receiving activation command of ap-TRS). NPL-E Page 11, “Proposal 12 The length of the COT duration bit-field in GC-PDCCH is configurable by an RRC parameter.”, teaches the claimed "configuration of a group common downlink control channel" (i.e. GC-PDCCH), and the configuration of said COT duration (=monitoring window)),
determine failed reception of at least one periodic tracking reference signal; (see NPL-E, page 17, section 6, 2nd paragraph, "If LBT fails prior to a particular period of TRS, then that period must be dropped, thus reducing the utility of these reference signals for time/frequency tracking", wherein the claimed "failed reception of ... one periodic tracking reference signal" directly corresponds to the p-TRS (i.e., periodic TRS) transmitted during the period that "must be dropped" because of "LBT failure" prior to said particular period);
monitor the group common physical downlink control channel to receive the aperiodic tracking reference signal triggering command within the monitoring window in response to the failed reception (see NPL-E, page 17, section 6, 2nd paragraph, and explanation above about failed reception of p-TRS, NPL-E page 5 section 3 “Dynamic PDCCH Monitoring”, line 3 “DL control”, line 14 “GC-PDCCH”, page 7, 6th paragraph, “According to this design each CORESET is configured within an LBT bandwidth while a specific search space can be defined as multiple non-overlapping frequency domain (FD) monitoring locations within a BWP. With this design GC-PDCCH monitoring is configured in different frequency domain (FD) locations for the same symbol occasions”, suggesting group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) can be used for DCI (DL control information) transmission of ap-TRS triggering, Page 18, 2nd paragraph “Clearly, aperiodic triggering is much better suited to operation in unlicensed bands, as it is easy to align transmissions within a shared COT acquired by the gNB…Indication of ap-TRS transmission is sent to the UE in DCI, so that the UE can receive the CSI-RS at the exact point in time.”, implies monitoring for DCI (GC-PDCCH) for triggering of ap-TRS in response to p-TRS dropping due to LBT failure. DCI (DL Control Information) is known to be carried in a PDCCH such as GC-PDCCH),
wherein the configuration of the monitoring window comprises at least one of a number of slots indicating a length of the monitoring window, an indication of a time offset to a start of the monitoring window after the failed reception of the at least one periodic tracking reference signal or a periodicity of the monitoring window (In the rejection above, the claimed "monitoring window" has been mapped to the "COT" disclosed in NPL-E. NPL-E, section 4 directly discloses at least the indication of the number of slots comprising the COT, as well as the claimed "time offset" - see NPL-E page 8, “The LAA group common information DCI carries the following fields [6] that are related to subframe structure and COT sharing: … UL duration and offset which provides UEs the possibility of using CAT2 LBT for transmission when DL-UL switching occurs within the shared COT (page 9, lines 1-2), as well as page 12, subsection "COT duration indication using SFI indication" disclosed in combination with “Proposal 14”. Satisfies “at least one of” criteria).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of XIAO to include the features as taught by NPL-E above in order to achieve Improved time/frequency tracking for wireless operation in unlicensed band (NPL-E Section 6).
While NPL-E suggests using of group common group common physical downlink control channel (GC-PDCCH) as explained above, however, in the same field of endeavor, MANOLAKOS expressly teaches, group common physical downlink control channel to receive the aperiodic tracking reference signal triggering command (MANOLAKOS [0068] “In one example, where the GC-DCI, e.g., as received at Block 402, includes A-TRS triggering only, GC-DCI can include the set of blocks, where each block can be received by multiple UEs. Each block may contain one or more bits that selects one of the configured A-TRS (e.g., as configured in RRC signaling) for the UE.”, teaches aperiodic TRS triggering command is received in GC-DCI, which is equivalent in concept to GC-PDCCH.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of XIAO and NPL-E to include the features as taught by MANOLAKOS above in order for transmitting and processing reference signals from multiple transmission/reception points (TRP) (MANOLAKOS [0002]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 03/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant expresses in Remarks page 5 “Xiao fails to teach or suggest "the parameters comprise a frequency domain allocation in relation to a common resource grid of a network node, a time domain allocation, symbol positions in a slot, and a quasi-co location assumption associated with the at least one periodic tracking reference signal with failed reception based on the synchronization signal block index," as recited in amended independent claim 16.”. However, applicant did not provide any argument against Xiao failing to teach the limitation as previously explained in the rejection of the limitation in the non-final office action. Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s statement above, based on the rejection under USC 103 above.
Applicant further argues in Remarks page 5 “Xiao fails to teach or suggest "the quasi co-location assumption comprises an indication of an average delay, doppler shift and a spatial reception parameter," as recited in amended independent claim 16. (Emphasis added.) Thus, Xiao does not teach or suggest the above-noted features of amended independent claim 16.” Again, applicant did not provide any argument against Xiao failing to teach the limitation as previously explained in the rejection of the limitation in the non-final office action. Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s statement above, based on the rejection under USC 103 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
ZHOU, US 20210006380 A1 - TECHNIQUES FOR CONFIGURING REFERENCE SIGNALS.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/MAHBUBUL BAR CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475