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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see REMARKS, filed 06/11/2026, with respect to rejection of claims 1, 3, 5, 13, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37-39, 57, 59, and 61-66 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive
Application argument (see REMARKS, page 23) with respect to the combination for Bia et al. teachings are moot since this prior art is not relied on for any teaching in the current rejection. However, the Office further asserts that the newly amended limitation of “transmitting, by radio resource control (RRC) configuration signaling, the uplink and downlink beam indication mode to the terminal, wherein the RRC configuration signaling comprises information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode” is taught at least by Zhou et al. as detailed in the rejection below.
Applicants further argues regarding claims 34 and 61 that (see REMARKS, page 28) “Tidestav's disclosure of DCI-based DL/UL TCI activation does not disclose the particular intra-DCI field structure claimed here: a first indication field having one portion identifying a TCI state and a second portion identifying the mode that determines whether that TCI state corresponds to joint UL/DL, separate UL, or separate DL beam indication.”
The Office respectfully disagrees. Claims 34 and 61 only recites “a second field portion indicating the uplink and downlink beam indication mode, wherein the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is one of the joint beam indication for uplink and downlink, the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink.” To this end Tidestav et al. teaches “wherein the first indication field (Fig. 8-17: varies configurations of DCI’s first indication field) further comprises:
a second field portion (Fig. 8-17: “DL TCI state and an UL TCI state” row field portion) indicating the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 8-17, Para. [0118]: “On beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication in Rel.17 unified TCI framework: [0119] Support L1-based beam indication using at least UE-specific (unicast) DCI to indicate joint or separate DL/UL beam indication from the active TCI states.” That is, “DL TCI state and an UL TCI state” row field portion” indicates the uplink and downlink beam indication mode), wherein the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is one of the joint beam indication for uplink and downlink, the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Fig. 8-17, Para. [0118]: “beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication” for uplink and downlink communication).” Hence, Tidestav et al. fairly suggest to a person of ordinary skilled in the art that a second field/row field portion can be used to indicate/identify if it support joint or separate DL/UL mode for either joint or separate DL/UL beam transmission).
Applicants additionally argues regarding claims 5, 31, and 64-66 that (see REMARKS, page 29) “The Office Action relies on Zhou's disclosure that separate MAC CEs may activate DL TCI states and UL TCI states…But the mere existence of separate MAC CEs for DL and UL TCI state activation does not teach the claimed architecture in which an RRC-identified uplink and downlink beam indication mode determines whether the subsequent MAC CE/DCI signaling provides joint beam indication information or separate beam indication information.”
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “architecture in which an RRC-identified uplink and downlink beam indication mode determines whether the subsequent MAC CE/DCI signaling provides joint beam indication information or separate beam indication information) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). The claims does not explicitly makes any link or relevance between RRC signaling and “whether the subsequent” MAC CE/DCI signaling provides joint beam indication information or separate beam indication information. The claims simply recites or read as providing different option for signaling “uplink and downlink beam indication mode to the terminal” which include any combination of RRC signaling, one of MAC-CE and/or DCI.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 57, 59 and 61-66 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al (US 20230291533 A1 previously cited) in view of Tidestav et al. (US 20240064770 A1 previously cited).
Regarding Claim 1, ZHOU et al. discloses;
A beam indication method, performed by a network device (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502”), the method comprising:
determining an uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL.” That is, determines a joint DL/UL beam indication mode) based on a beam indication solution for a terminal (Fig. 5, Para. Para. [0067]: “beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL…may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication.” That is, joint DL/UL indication mode is determined based on “a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication” solution for UE 502), wherein the beam indication solution indicates that a data channel and a control channel share same beam information (Para. [0067], [0093], [0126]: “A common beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL, especially for intra-band carrier aggregation (CA), may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication.” “The MAC-CE 1002 may activate the TCI states for any of data channel such as PDSCH, PUSCH, or control channel such as control resource set (CORESET), PUCCH.” In other words, the MAC-CE indicates a common beam [same beam information] is used for data channel and control channel for transmission/reception for DL and UL), wherein the beam indication solution is a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) framework (Para. [0067]: “A common beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL, especially for intra-band carrier aggregation (CA), may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication”. That is, beam indication solution is based on TCI framework), and the uplink and downlink beam indication mode comprise a joint beam indication for uplink and downlink (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL”);
transmitting, by radio resource control (RRC) configuration signaling, the uplink and downlink beam indication mode to the terminal (Fig. 5: Para. [0084], [0087], [0095]: “In one aspect, the applicable DL reception/UL transmission types [beam indication mode] and/or resources may be configured or indicated by the base station, for example, via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI” “the applicable DL reception/UL transmission [beam indication mode] may be indicated in a specification or by the base station, e.g., via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI”), wherein the RRC configuration signaling comprises information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5: [0095]: “the base station 504 may transmit a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types [beam indication mode] or resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states [information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode] to the UE 502”));
transmitting, by at least one of a media access control control element (MAC CE) or downlink control information (DCI) (Para. [0006]: “The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)”), beam indication information to the terminal based on the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL….using a MAC-CE.” That is, a MAC-CE is transmitted based joint DL/UL beam indication mode), wherein the beam indication information indicates a beam configured for the terminal (Fig. 5, Para. [0007]: “receives, from a base station, an activation of a joint DL and UL TCI state for a CC, the joint DL and UL TCI state [beam indication information] indicating a common beam for communication of data and control channels in DL and UL.” That is, TCI state [beam indication information] indicates a common beam for DL and UL is configured for the terminal/UE 502);
wherein the transmitting, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the beam indication information to the terminal based on the uplink and downlink beam indication mode comprises:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the joint beam indication for uplink and downlink (Fig. 5, Para. [0006], [0093]: “Para. [0006]: “The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states [joint beam indication information]…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)”, “base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL [i.e. joint DL/UL beam indication mode]…using a MAC-CE.” That is, base state transmits joint DL/UL beam indication, via a MAC-CE, to the UE 502 is), transmitting, by at least one of the MAC CE and the DCI, joint beam indication information to the terminal (Para. [0006]: “an activation of a joint DL and UL…The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)…The base station may transmit a DCI indicating an index of a TCI codepoint, the index corresponding to one of the activated joint DL and UL TCI states to the UE.” That is, joint beam indication information is conveyed/activated by at least one of MAC-CE and indexed by DCI), wherein the joint beam indication information and the MAC CE activates a plurality of TCI states (Para. [0085]: “if multiple joint DL/UL TCI states can be activated by the MAC-CE), and …the DCI comprises a first field portion indicating one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI states (Para. [0085]: “…a DCI may further indicate a TCI codepoint [first field portion] mapped [corresponding] to one activated joint DL/UL TCI state ” and “The base station may transmit a DCI of a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] to the UE, including a TCI codepoint index mapped to an activated joint DL/UL TCI state among the activated multiple joint DL/UL TCI states.” That is, DL/UL TCI states can be activated by the MAC-CE and DCI may further indicate a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] mapped to one activated joint DL/UL TCI state).
Although, ZHOU et al. teaches (as above) uplink and downlink beam indication mode includes joint DL/UL and further teaches (Para. [0090]) “separate MAC-CEs may be applied to activate the DL TCI states, the UL TCI states,” ZHOU et al. does not state that the MAC-CE activation of the separate DL and UL TCI state of the uplink and downlink beam indication mode corresponds to/comprises:
“a separate beam indication for uplink or downlink”; or
the DCI, the separate beam indication information to the terminal comprises:
“a first indication field” or that:
in case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink, transmitting, by the MAC CE and the DCI, separate beam indication information to the terminal, wherein the separate beam indication information at least one of a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission and the MAC CE activates the plurality of TCI states, and the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states, corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission, or one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI states.
On the other hand, in the same field of endeavor (Para. [0002]: “Transmission/Configuration Indicator states…utilization of Downlink Control Information (DCI) to update a list of activated DL TCI states and/or UL TCI states”) Tidestav et al. (Fig. 6, 8, 10-17, Para. [0084], [0135], [0147], [0148][0172], [0212], [0242]) DCI includes at least first and second field/portion used to indicated use of a beam in either joint or separate downlink and/or uplink transmission modes where the first field portion corresponds to “DCI codepoint” and a second field portion containing to “Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state(s) to be activated at the WCD” comprised as:
a separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Para. [0118], [0122]: “beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication” “to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL”);
the DCI comprises:
“a first indication field (Fig. 6, 8-17, Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: “the one or more TCI states to be activated at the WCD 712 are to be mapped to a particular one of a plurality of codepoints of a TCI field in a DCI, and the DCI further comprises information that indicates the particular one of the plurality of codepoints.” Fig. 6, 8-17 depicts varies configurations of a DCI indication filed comprising “first field portion corresponds to “DCI codepoint” and second field portion containing to “Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state(s)” for joint or separate uplink (UL) and/or downlink (DL) TCI state activation)” and that:
“in case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Para. [0122]: “unified TCI framework, to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL”), transmitting, by the MAC CE and the DCI, separate beam indication information to the terminal (Fig. 4-17: transmitting “MAC-CE” as in Fig. 4-5 and DCI as in Fig. 4 and 8-17), wherein the separate beam indication information at least one of a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission (Fig. 18, Para. [0122]: “to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL…two separate TCI states, one for DL and one for UL.” That is, separate beam indication for UL and DL configures a “Wireless Communication Device (WCD)” for using a beam for UL transmission or a beam for DL transmission) and the MAC CE activates the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 5, Para. [0028]: “the MAC CE signaling that is used to activate/deactivate TCI states [the plurality of TCI states] for UE), and the first indication field of the DCI (Fig, 8-17, varies configurations first indication field of the DCI) comprises the first field portion (Fig, 8-17: “DCI CODEPOINT”/first field portion) indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 6, 8-17, Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: “the one or more TCI states to be activated at the WCD 712 are to be mapped to a particular one of a plurality of codepoints of a TCI field in a DCI, and the DCI further comprises information that indicates the particular one of the plurality of codepoints”), corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission, or one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 8-17 Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: Fig. 6, 8-17 depicts varies configurations of a DCI indication filed comprising “first field portion”/“DCI codepoint” indicating at least on TCI state (e.g. Fig. 9: a DCI codepoint) mapped to a corresponding uplink/UL beam transmission (e.g. Fig. 9: a particular DCI CODEPOINT mapped to one of the UL TCI STATES for uplink/UL beam transmission) or one TCI state (e.g. Fig. 9: a DCI codepoint) mapped to downlink/DL beam transmission (e.g. Fig. 9: a particular DCI CODEPOINT mapped to one of the DL TCI STATES for downlink/DL beam transmission).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that transmission of the MAC CE and DCI, the first field portion/TCI codepoint field and/or the one or more fields/portions of the DCI and separate uplink and downlink beam indication in ZHOU et al.’s invention can be based on separate a beam indication mode for a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission, where the DCI comprises a first indication field comprising codepoint field/first field portion indicating separate beam indication information using MAC CE and DCI for activating a particular one of the DL TCI state or a particular on of the UL TCI state among plurality of UL/DL TCI states as taught by Tidestav et al., where doing so would (Tidestav et al., [Para. [0131]) “may speed up and simplify TCI state selection for DL channels/signals and/or UL channels/signals.”
Regarding Claim 3, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches;
transmitting solution indication information to the terminal, wherein the solution indication information indicates the beam indication solution (Para. [0006]: “The apparatus may transmit, to a user equipment (UE), an activation of a joint DL and UL TCI state [solution indication information] for a CC comprised in the CC list to activate the joint DL and UL TCI state for each of the multiple CCs comprised in the list, where the joint DL and UL TCI state indicates a common beam for communication in DL and UL [indicates the beam indication solution - joint DL and UL transmission using common beam]).
Regarding Claim 5, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches wherein:
wherein the transmitting, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the beam indication information to the terminal based on the uplink and downlink beam indication mode
further comprises:
transmitting, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the joint beam indication information to the terminal (Para. [0006]: “The base station may transmit a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types of resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states to the UE…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI).” That is, a MAC-CE and control information (DCI) signaling can be used for indicating a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types of resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states to the UE )); wherein transmitting, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the joint beam indication information to the terminal comprises at least one of:
transmitting the MAC CE to the terminal, wherein the MAC CE activates one transmission configuration indication (TCI) state which corresponds to the beam used for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission (Para. [0093]: “The base station 504 may signal a common beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL TCI state, and activate the joint DL/UL TCI state using a MAC-CE”); or
transmitting the DCI to the terminal, wherein the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating one TCI state, corresponding to the beam used for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission, in the plurality of activated TCI states (Para. [0079]: “In some aspects, the DCI and/or MAC-CE may activate subsets of configured joint DL/UL TCI states, where each joint DL/UL TCI state may indicate a common beam for DL reception/UL transmission”); or
transmitting, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the separate beam indication information to the terminal comprises at least one of:
transmitting the at least one of the MAC CE to the terminal, wherein the at least one of the MAC CE comprises at least one of a first MAC CE or a second MAC CE, the first MAC CE activating one TCI state which corresponds to the uplink beam, the second MAC CE activating one TCI state which corresponds to the downlink (optional limitation not currently addressed but previously rejected as taught by Bai et al. (US 20220217725 A1)); where ZHOU et al. further teaches wherein:
transmitting the at least one of the MAC CE to the terminal, wherein the at least one of the MAC CE activates at least one of one TCI state corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission or one TCI state corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission (ZHOU et al. Para. [0093]: “The base station 504 may signal a common beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL TCI state, and activate the joint DL/UL TCI state using a MAC-CE” the common beam used for the uplink transmission or the downlink transmission); or
transmitting the DCI to the terminal, wherein the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states, corresponding to the uplink beam, or one TCI state, corresponding to the download beam, in the plurality of activated TCI states (Para. [0085]: “The base station may transmit a DCI of a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] to the UE, including a TCI codepoint index mapped to an activated joint DL/UL TCI state [at least one of the plurality of TCI states] among the activated multiple joint DL/UL TCI states.” That is, the TCI codepoint field indicates at least one TCI state corresponding to the uplink/UL beam, or the download/DL beam).
Regarding Claim 27, ZHOU et al. discloses;
A beam determination method, performed by a terminal (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502”), and the method comprises:
receiving from a network device, by radio resource control (RRC) configuration signaling, an uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5: Para. [0084], [0087], [0095]: “In one aspect, the applicable DL reception/UL transmission types [beam indication mode] and/or resources may be configured or indicated by the base station, for example, via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI” “the applicable DL reception/UL transmission [beam indication mode] may be indicated in a specification or by the base station, e.g., via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI”), wherein the RRC configuration signaling comprises information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5: [0095]: “the base station 504 may transmit a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types [beam indication mode] or resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states [information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode] to the UE 502”));
receiving from base station (Fig. 5: UE 502 receiving signaling 506 from BS 504), by at least one of a media access control control element (MAC CE) or downlink control information (DCI) (Fig. 5: signaling 506 includes at least MAC CE), beam indication information (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 transmits “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL…. using a MAC-CE.” That is, a MAC-CE is transmitted based joint DL/UL beam indication mode), wherein the beam indication information indicates a beam configured for the terminal (Fig. 5, Para. [0007]: “receives, from a base station, an activation of a joint DL and UL TCI state for a CC, the joint DL and UL TCI state [beam indication information] indicating a common beam for communication of data and control channels in DL and UL.” That is, TCI state [beam indication information] indicates a common beam for DL and UL is configured for the terminal/UE 502);
determining [[an]] the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL.” That is, determines a joint DL/UL beam indication mode) based on a beam indication solution for a terminal (Fig. 5, Para. Para. [0067]: “beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL…may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication.” That is, joint DL/UL indication mode is determined based on “a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication” solution for UE 502), wherein the beam indication solution indicates that a data channel and a control channel share same beam information (Para. [0067], [0093], [0126]: “A common beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL, especially for intra-band carrier aggregation (CA), may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication.” “The MAC-CE 1002 may activate the TCI states for any of data channel such as PDSCH, PUSCH, or control channel such as control resource set (CORESET), PUCCH.” In other words, the MAC-CE indicates a common beam [same beam information] is used for data channel and control channel for transmission/reception for DL and UL), wherein the beam indication solution is a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) framework (Para. [0067]: “A common beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL, especially for intra-band carrier aggregation (CA), may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication”. That is, beam indication solution is based on TCI framework), and the uplink and downlink beam indication mode comprise a joint beam indication for uplink and downlink (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL”)…;
determining beam information based on the uplink and downlink beam indication mode and the beam indication information (Fig. 5, Para. [0007], [0067], [0093], [0126]: UE 502 determines “A common beam [beam information] for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL based on “joint DL/UL” beam mode indication and the joint DL and UL TCI state [beam indication information]);
wherein the receiving from the network device, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the beam indication information comprises:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the joint beam indication for uplink and downlink (Fig. 5, Para. [0006], [0093]: “Para. [0006]: “The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states [joint beam indication information]…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)”, “base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL [i.e. joint DL/UL beam indication mode]…using a MAC-CE.” That is, base state transmits joint DL/UL beam indication, via a MAC-CE, to the UE 502), receiving, by the and the DCI, joint beam indication information (Para. [0006]: “an activation of a joint DL and UL…The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)…The base station may transmit a DCI indicating an index of a TCI codepoint, the index corresponding to one of the activated joint DL and UL TCI states to the UE.” That is, joint beam indication information is conveyed/activated by at least one of MAC-CE and indexed by DCI), wherein the joint beam indication information is used for indicating a beam, configured for the terminal, for both uplink transmission and downlink transmission (Fig. 5, Para. [0006]: “where the joint DL and UL TCI state indicates a common beam for communication in DL and UL”), and the MAC CE activates a plurality of TCI states (Para. [0085]: “if multiple joint DL/UL TCI states can be activated by the MAC-CE), and…the DCI comprises a first field portion indicating one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI states (Para. [0085]: “…a DCI may further indicate a TCI codepoint [first field portion] mapped [corresponding] to one activated joint DL/UL TCI state ” and “The base station may transmit a DCI of a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] to the UE, including a TCI codepoint index mapped to an activated joint DL/UL TCI state among the activated multiple joint DL/UL TCI states.” That is, DL/UL TCI states can be activated by the MAC-CE and DCI may further indicate a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] mapped to one activated joint DL/UL TCI state).
Although, ZHOU et al. teaches (as above) uplink and downlink beam indication mode includes joint DL/UL and further teaches (Para. [0090]) “separate MAC-CEs may be applied to activate the DL TCI states, the UL TCI states,” ZHOU et al. does not state that the MAC-CE activation of the separate DL and UL TCI state of the uplink and downlink beam indication mode corresponds to/comprises:
“a separate beam indication for uplink or downlink”; or
the DCI, the separate beam indication information to the terminal comprises:
“a first indication field” or that:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink, receiving, by and the DCI, separate beam indication information, wherein the separate beam indication information is used for indicating at least one of a beam configured for the terminal for the plink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission, and the MAC CE activates the plurality of TCI states, and the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states, corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission, or one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI state.
On the other hand, in the same field of endeavor (Para. [0002]: “Transmission/Configuration Indicator states…utilization of Downlink Control Information (DCI) to update a list of activated DL TCI states and/or UL TCI states”) Tidestav et al. (Fig. 6, 8, 10-17, Para. [0084], [0135], [0147], [0148][0172], [0212], [0242]) DCI includes at least first and second field/portion used to indicated use of a beam in either joint or separate downlink and/or uplink transmission modes where the first field portion corresponds to “DCI codepoint” and a second field portion containing to “Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state(s) to be activated at the WCD” comprised as:
a separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Para. [0118], [0122]: “beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication” “to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL”);
the DCI comprises:
“a first indication field (Fig. 6, 8-17, Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: “the one or more TCI states to be activated at the WCD 712 are to be mapped to a particular one of a plurality of codepoints of a TCI field in a DCI, and the DCI further comprises information that indicates the particular one of the plurality of codepoints.” Fig. 6, 8-17 depicts varies configurations of a DCI indication filed comprising “first field portion corresponds to “DCI codepoint” and second field portion containing to “Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state(s)” for joint or separate uplink (UL) and/or downlink (DL) TCI state activation)” and that:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Para. [0122]: “unified TCI framework, to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL”), receiving, by and the DCI, separate beam indication information (Fig. 4-17: transmitting “MAC-CE” as in Fig. 4-5 and DCI as in Fig. 4 and 8-17), wherein the separate beam indication information is used for indicating at least one of a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission (Fig. 18, Para. [0122]: “to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL…two separate TCI states, one for DL and one for UL.” That is, separate beam indication for UL and DL configures a “Wireless Communication Device (WCD)” for using a beam for UL transmission or a beam for DL transmission), and the MAC CE activates the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 5, Para. [0028]: “the MAC CE signaling that is used to activate/deactivate TCI states [the plurality of TCI states] for UE), and the first indication field of the DCI (Fig, 8-17, varies configurations first indication field of the DCI) comprises the first field portion (Fig, 8-17: “DCI CODEPOINT”/first field portion) indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 6, 8-17, Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: “the one or more TCI states to be activated at the WCD 712 are to be mapped to a particular one of a plurality of codepoints of a TCI field in a DCI, and the DCI further comprises information that indicates the particular one of the plurality of codepoints”), corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission, or one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI state (Fig. 8-17 Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: Fig. 6, 8-17 depicts varies configurations of a DCI indication filed comprising “first field portion”/“DCI codepoint” indicating at least on TCI state (e.g. Fig. 9: a DCI codepoint) mapped to a corresponding uplink/UL beam transmission (e.g. Fig. 9: a particular DCI CODEPOINT mapped to one of the UL TCI STATES for uplink/UL beam transmission) or one TCI state (e.g. Fig. 9: a DCI codepoint) mapped to downlink/DL beam transmission (e.g. Fig. 9: a particular DCI CODEPOINT mapped to one of the DL TCI STATES for downlink/DL beam transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that transmission of the MAC CE and DCI, the first field portion/TCI codepoint field and/or the one or more fields/portions of the DCI and separate uplink and downlink beam indication in ZHOU et al.’s invention can be based on separate a beam indication mode for a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission, where the DCI comprises a first indication field comprising codepoint field/first field portion indicating separate beam indication information using MAC CE and DCI for activating a particular one of the DL TCI state or a particular on of the UL TCI state among plurality of UL/DL TCI states as taught by Tidestav et al., where doing so would (Tidestav et al., [Para. [0131]) “may speed up and simplify TCI state selection for DL channels/signals and/or UL channels/signals.”
Regarding Claim 29, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches;
receiving solution indication information to the terminal, wherein the solution indication information indicates the beam indication solution (Para. [0006]: “The apparatus may transmit, to a user equipment (UE), an activation of a joint DL and UL TCI state [solution indication information] for a CC comprised in the CC list to activate the joint DL and UL TCI state for each of the multiple CCs comprised in the list, where the joint DL and UL TCI state indicates a common beam for communication in DL and UL [indicates the beam indication solution - joint DL and UL transmission using common beam]).
Regarding Claim 31, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 27 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches wherein:
wherein the receiving from the network device, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the beam indication information further comprises:
receiving, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the joint beam indication information (Para. [0006]: “The base station may transmit a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types of resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states to the UE…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI).” That is, a MAC-CE and control information (DCI) signaling can be used for indicating a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types of resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states to the UE)); wherein
receiving, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the joint beam indication information comprises at least one of:
receiving the MAC CE, wherein the MAC CE activates one TCI state which corresponds to the beam used for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission (Para. [0093]: “The base station 504 may signal a common beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL TCI state, and activate the joint DL/UL TCI state using a MAC-CE”);… or
receiving the DCI, wherein the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating one TCI state, corresponding to the beam used for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI states (Para. [0079]: “In some aspects, the DCI and/or MAC-CE may activate subsets of configured joint DL/UL TCI states, where each joint DL/UL TCI state may indicate a common beam for DL reception/UL transmission”); or
receiving, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the separate beam indication information; wherein receiving, by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the separate beam indication information further comprises at least one of:
receiving the at least one MAC CE, wherein the at least one MAC CE comprises at least one of a first MAC CE or a second MAC CE, the first MAC CE activating one TCI state which corresponds to the uplink beam, the second MAC CE activating one TCI state which corresponds to the beam for the downlink transmission;
receiving the at least one MAC CE, wherein the at least one MAC CE activates at least one of one TCI state corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission or one TCI state corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission; or
receiving the DCI, wherein the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states, corresponding to the uplink beam, or one TCI state, corresponding to the downlink beam, in the plurality of activated TCI states (optional limitation not currently addressed but previously rejected as taught by Bai et al. (US 20220217725 A1)).
Regarding Claim 34, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 27 above, where Tidestav et al. further teaches:
wherein the first indication field (Fig. 8-17: varies configurations of DCI’s first indication field) further comprises:
a second field portion (Fig. 8-17: “DL TCI state and an UL TCI state” row field portion) indicating the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 8-17, Para. [0118]: “On beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication in Rel.17 unified TCI framework: [0119] Support L1-based beam indication using at least UE-specific (unicast) DCI to indicate joint or separate DL/UL beam indication from the active TCI states.” That is, “DL TCI state and an UL TCI state” row field portion” indicates the uplink and downlink beam indication mode), wherein the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is one of the joint beam indication for uplink and downlink, the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Fig. 8-17, Para. [0118]: “beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication” for uplink and downlink communication).
Regarding Claim 37, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 29 above, where ZHOU et al.further teaches:
wherein the solution indication information further comprises:
information used for identifying a control resource set CORESET adapting to the beam indication solution (Para. [0080], [0081]: “The activation MAC-CE 400 may include a bitmap indicating which configured joint DL/UL TCI state(s) are activate…The MAC-CE 400 may include a variable size bitmap including any of a CORESET pool ID, a serving cell ID field, a BWP ID field, and TCI state fields. For example, a first octet (Oct) of the MAC-CE bitmap may include any of the CORESET pool ID, the serving cell ID, and the BWP ID.” “The CORESET pool ID may indicate whether a mapping between the activated TCI states and a codepoint of the DCI is preconfigured or based on a preconfigured rule”).
Regarding Claim 57, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches:
A communication device (Fig. 17, Para. [0160]: “apparatus 1702 may be a base station”), comprising: a transceiver (Fig. 17: RF transceiver 1722); a memory (Fig. 17, Para. [0160]: “The baseband unit 1704 may include a computer-readable medium/memory”) that stores computer executable instructions (0Para. [0033]: “computer-readable media…that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer”); and one or more processor, coupled to the transceiver and the memory respectively (Fig. 3, 17, Para. [0160]: “The baseband unit 1704 may be a component of the base station 310 and may include the memory 376 and/or at least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375”), wherein the computer executable instructions when collectively executed by the one or more processors cause the communication device to act as the network device and perform the method according to claim 1 (Fig. 3, 17, Para. [0160]-[0164]: “The baseband unit 1704 may include a computer-readable medium/memory. The baseband unit 1704 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium/memory. The software, when executed by the baseband unit 1704, causes the baseband unit 1704 to perform the various functions described supra.”)
Regarding Claim 59, ZHOU et al. discloses;
A communication device (Fig. 16, Para. [0156]: “The apparatus 1602 may be a UE”), comprising:
a transceiver (Fig. 16, Para. [0156]: “a cellular RF transceiver 1622”);
a memory that stores computer executable instructions (Fig. 16, Para. [0156]: “The cellular baseband processor 1604 may include a computer-readable medium/memory”); and
one or more processor (Fig. 16: cellular baseband processor 1604), that are communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory respectively (Fig. 16, Para. [0156]: “The cellular baseband processor 1604 communicates through the cellular RF transceiver 1622 …The cellular baseband processor 1604 may include a computer-readable medium/memory”),
wherein the computer executable instructions when collectively executed by the one or more processors cause the communication device to (Para. [0156]: The cellular baseband processor 1604 communicates through the cellular RF transceiver 1622 with the UE 104 and/or BS 102/180. The cellular baseband processor 1604 may include a computer-readable medium/memory. The computer-readable medium/memory may be non-transitory. The cellular baseband processor 1604 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium/memory. The software, when executed by the cellular baseband processor 1604, causes the cellular baseband processor 1604 to perform the various functions described supra”):
receive, by radio resource control (RRC) configuration signaling, an uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5: Para. [0084], [0087], [0095]: “In one aspect, the applicable DL reception/UL transmission types [beam indication mode] and/or resources may be configured or indicated by the base station, for example, via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI” “the applicable DL reception/UL transmission [beam indication mode] may be indicated in a specification or by the base station, e.g., via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI”), wherein the RRC configuration signaling comprises information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5: [0095]: “the base station 504 may transmit a configuration indicating applicable DL/UL types [beam indication mode] or resources for activated joint DL/UL TCI states [information identifying the uplink and downlink beam indication mode] to the UE 502”));
receive, (Fig. 5: UE 502 receiving signaling 506 from BS 504), by at least one of a media access control control element (MAC CE) or downlink control information (DCI) (Fig. 5: signaling 506 includes at least MAC CE), beam indication information (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 transmits “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL….using a MAC-CE.” That is, a MAC-CE is transmitted based joint DL/UL beam indication mode), wherein the beam indication information indicates a beam configured for the terminal (Fig. 5, Para. [0007]: “receives, from a base station, an activation of a joint DL and UL TCI state for a CC, the joint DL and UL TCI state [beam indication information] indicating a common beam for communication of data and control channels in DL and UL.” That is, TCI state [beam indication information] indicates a common beam for DL and UL is configured for the terminal/UE 502);
determine [[an]] the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL.” That is, determines a joint DL/UL beam indication mode) based on a beam indication solution for a terminal (Fig. 5, Para. Para. [0067]: “beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL…may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication.” That is, joint DL/UL indication mode is determined based on “a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication” solution for UE 502), wherein the beam indication solution indicates that a data channel and a control channel share same beam information (Para. [0067], [0093], [0126]: “A common beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL, especially for intra-band carrier aggregation (CA), may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication.” “The MAC-CE 1002 may activate the TCI states for any of data channel such as PDSCH, PUSCH, or control channel such as control resource set (CORESET), PUCCH.” In other words, the MAC-CE indicates a common beam [same beam information] is used for data channel and control channel for transmission/reception for DL and UL), wherein the beam indication solution is a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) framework (Para. [0067]: “A common beam for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL, especially for intra-band carrier aggregation (CA), may be specified in order to provide a unified TCI framework for DL and UL beam indication”. That is, beam indication solution is based on TCI framework), and the uplink and downlink beam indication mode comprise a joint beam indication for uplink and downlink (Fig. 5, Para. [0093]: base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL”)…;
determine beam information based on the uplink and downlink beam indication mode and the beam indication information (Fig. 5, Para. [0007], [0067], [0093], [0126]: UE 502 determines “A common beam [beam information] for data and control transmission/reception for DL and UL based on “joint DL/UL” beam mode indication and the joint DL and UL TCI state [beam indication information]);
wherein the receiving by the at least one of the MAC CE or the DCI, the beam indication information comprises:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the joint beam indication for uplink and downlink (Fig. 5, Para. [0006], [0093]: “Para. [0006]: “The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states [joint beam indication information]…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)”, “base station 504 performing “beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL [i.e. joint DL/UL beam indication mode]…using a MAC-CE.” That is, base state transmits joint DL/UL beam indication, via a MAC-CE, to the UE 502), receiving, by the and the DCI, joint beam indication information (Para. [0006]: “an activation of a joint DL and UL…The base station may transmit a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) to a UE, the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states…The configuration may be received through at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC-CE, and/or control information (DCI)…The base station may transmit a DCI indicating an index of a TCI codepoint, the index corresponding to one of the activated joint DL and UL TCI states to the UE.” That is, joint beam indication information is conveyed/activated by at least one of MAC-CE and indexed by DCI), wherein the joint beam indication information is used for indicating a beam, configured for the terminal, for both uplink transmission and downlink transmission (Fig. 5, Para. [0006]: “where the joint DL and UL TCI state indicates a common beam for communication in DL and UL”), and the MAC CE activates a plurality of TCI states(Para. [0085]: “if multiple joint DL/UL TCI states can be activated by the MAC-CE), and…the DCI comprises a first field portion indicating one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for both the uplink transmission and the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI states (Para. [0085]: “…a DCI may further indicate a TCI codepoint [first field portion] mapped [corresponding] to one activated joint DL/UL TCI state ” and “The base station may transmit a DCI of a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] to the UE, including a TCI codepoint index mapped to an activated joint DL/UL TCI state among the activated multiple joint DL/UL TCI states.” That is, DL/UL TCI states can be activated by the MAC-CE and DCI may further indicate a TCI codepoint field [first field portion] mapped to one activated joint DL/UL TCI state).
Although, ZHOU et al. teaches (as above) uplink and downlink beam indication mode includes joint DL/UL and further teaches (Para. [0090]) “separate MAC-CEs may be applied to activate the DL TCI states, the UL TCI states,” ZHOU et al. does not state that the MAC-CE activation of the separate DL and UL TCI state of the uplink and downlink beam indication mode corresponds to/comprises:
“a separate beam indication for uplink or downlink”; or
the DCI, the separate beam indication information to the terminal comprises:
“a first indication field” or that:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink, receiving, by and the DCI, separate beam indication information, wherein the separate beam indication information is used for indicating at least one of a beam configured for the terminal for the plink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission, and the MAC CE activates the plurality of TCI states, and the first indication field of the DCI comprises the first field portion indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states, corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission, or one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI state.
On the other hand, in the same field of endeavor (Para. [0002]: “Transmission/Configuration Indicator states…utilization of Downlink Control Information (DCI) to update a list of activated DL TCI states and/or UL TCI states”) Tidestav et al. (Fig. 6, 8, 10-17, Para. [0084], [0135], [0147], [0148][0172], [0212], [0242]) DCI includes at least first and second field/portion used to indicated use of a beam in either joint or separate downlink and/or uplink transmission modes where the first field portion corresponds to “DCI codepoint” and a second field portion containing to “Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state(s) to be activated at the WCD” comprised as:
a separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Para. [0118], [0122]: “beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication” “to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL”);
the DCI comprises:
“a first indication field (Fig. 6, 8-17, Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: “the one or more TCI states to be activated at the WCD 712 are to be mapped to a particular one of a plurality of codepoints of a TCI field in a DCI, and the DCI further comprises information that indicates the particular one of the plurality of codepoints.” Fig. 6, 8-17 depicts varies configurations of a DCI indication filed comprising “first field portion corresponds to “DCI codepoint” and second field portion containing to “Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state(s)” for joint or separate uplink (UL) and/or downlink (DL) TCI state activation)” and that:
in a case where the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is the separate beam indication for uplink or downlink (Para. [0122]: “unified TCI framework, to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL”), receiving, by and the DCI, separate beam indication information (Fig. 4-17: transmitting “MAC-CE” as in Fig. 4-5 and DCI as in Fig. 4 and 8-17), wherein the separate beam indication information is used for indicating at least one of a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission (Fig. 18, Para. [0122]: “to accommodate the case of separate beam indication for UL and DL…two separate TCI states, one for DL and one for UL.” That is, separate beam indication for UL and DL configures a “Wireless Communication Device (WCD)” for using a beam for UL transmission or a beam for DL transmission), and the MAC CE activates the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 5, Para. [0028]: “the MAC CE signaling that is used to activate/deactivate TCI states [the plurality of TCI states] for UE), and the first indication field of the DCI (Fig, 8-17, varies configurations first indication field of the DCI) comprises the first field portion (Fig, 8-17: “DCI CODEPOINT”/first field portion) indicating at least one of the plurality of TCI states (Fig. 6, 8-17, Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: “the one or more TCI states to be activated at the WCD 712 are to be mapped to a particular one of a plurality of codepoints of a TCI field in a DCI, and the DCI further comprises information that indicates the particular one of the plurality of codepoints”), corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission, or one TCI state, corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission, in the plurality of TCI state (Fig. 8-17 Para. [0041], [0051], [0084], [0085], [0135]: Fig. 6, 8-17 depicts varies configurations of a DCI indication filed comprising “first field portion”/“DCI codepoint” indicating at least on TCI state (e.g. Fig. 9: a DCI codepoint) mapped to a corresponding uplink/UL beam transmission (e.g. Fig. 9: a particular DCI CODEPOINT mapped to one of the UL TCI STATES for uplink/UL beam transmission) or one TCI state (e.g. Fig. 9: a DCI codepoint) mapped to downlink/DL beam transmission (e.g. Fig. 9: a particular DCI CODEPOINT mapped to one of the DL TCI STATES for downlink/DL beam transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that transmission of the MAC CE and DCI, the first field portion/TCI codepoint field and/or the one or more fields/portions of the DCI and separate uplink and downlink beam indication in ZHOU et al.’s invention can be based on separate a beam indication mode for a beam configured for the terminal for the uplink transmission or a beam configured for the terminal for the downlink transmission, where the DCI comprises a first indication field comprising codepoint field/first field portion indicating separate beam indication information using MAC CE and DCI for activating a particular one of the DL TCI state or a particular on of the UL TCI state among plurality of UL/DL TCI states as taught by Tidestav et al., where doing so would (Tidestav et al., [Para. [0131]) “may speed up and simplify TCI state selection for DL channels/signals and/or UL channels/signals.”
Regarding Claim 61, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where Tidestav et al. further teaches:
wherein the first indication field (Fig. 8-17: varies configurations of DCI’s first indication field) further comprises:
a second field portion (Fig. 8-17: “DL TCI state and an UL TCI state” row field portion) indicating the uplink and downlink beam indication mode (Fig. 8-17, Para. [0118]: “On beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication in Rel.17 unified TCI framework: [0119] Support L1-based beam indication using at least UE-specific (unicast) DCI to indicate joint or separate DL/UL beam indication from the active TCI states.” That is, “DL TCI state and an UL TCI state” row field portion” indicates the uplink and downlink beam indication mode), wherein the uplink and downlink beam indication mode is one of the joint uplink and downlink beam indication, a separate uplink beam indication and a separate downlink beam indication (Fig. 8-17, Para. [0118]: “beam indication signaling medium to support joint or separate DL/UL beam indication” for uplink and downlink communication).
Regarding Claim 62, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 3 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches:
wherein the solution indication information further comprises:
information used for identifying a control resource set CORESET adapting to the beam indication solution (Para. [0080], [0081]: “The activation MAC-CE 400 may include a bitmap indicating which configured joint DL/UL TCI state(s) are activate…The MAC-CE 400 may include a variable size bitmap including any of a CORESET pool ID, a serving cell ID field, a BWP ID field, and TCI state fields. For example, a first octet (Oct) of the MAC-CE bitmap may include any of the CORESET pool ID, the serving cell ID, and the BWP ID.” “The CORESET pool ID may indicate whether a mapping between the activated TCI states and a codepoint of the DCI is preconfigured or based on a preconfigured rule”).
Regarding Claim 63, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches:
wherein the network device is a communication device in a serving cell of the terminal (Fig. 1, Para. [0035]: a base station/network device 102/180 is in in a serving cell 110 of the terminal 104) or in an adjacent cell of the serving cell (Fig. 1, Para. [0035]: a base station/network device 102 can be in an adjacent cell 110 of the serving cell 110).
Regarding Claim 64, 65 and 66, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1, 27 and 59 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches:
wherein the MAC CE is configured to activate one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states (Abstract, Para. [0006]: “the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states”), and the MAC CE comprises:
a third MAC CE (Para. [0006]: “The configuration may be received through at least one of… a MAC-CE [a third MAC CE]”) configured to activate one or more TCI states corresponding to a beam for an uplink transmission and one or more TCI states corresponding to a beam for a downlink transmission (Para. [0006]: “the MAC-CE activating a subset of configured joint DL and UL TCI states, each activated joint DL and UL TCI state indicating a common beam for communication in DL and UL”; Para. [0093]: “The base station 504 may signal a common beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL TCI state, and activate the joint DL/UL TCI state using a MAC-CE”); or
a fourth MAC CE (Para. [0091]: “For the activation MAC-CE, separate MAC-CEs may be applied”. That is, the MAC-CE comprises at least a fourth MAC CE) configured to activate the one or more TCI states corresponding to the beam for the uplink transmission (Para. [0091]: “For the activation MAC-CE, separate MAC-CEs may be applied to activate …the UL TCI states”; Para. [0093]: “The base station 504 may signal a common beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL TCI state, and activate the joint DL/UL TCI state using a MAC-CE”), and a fifth MAC CE (Para. [0091]: “For the activation MAC-CE, separate MAC-CEs may be applied”. That is, the MAC-CE comprises at least a fifth MAC CE) configured to activate the one or more TCI states corresponding to the beam for the downlink transmission (Para. [0091]: “For the activation MAC-CE, separate MAC-CEs may be applied to activate the DL [downlink transmission] TCI states”; Para. [0093]: “The base station 504 may signal a common beam indication to the UE 502 via a joint DL/UL TCI state, and activate the joint DL/UL TCI state using a MAC-CE”).
Claims 13 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al (US 20230291533 A1 previously cited) in view of Tidestav et al. (US 20240064770 A1 previously cited) further in view of Liu et al. (US 20230239823 A1 previously cited).
Regarding Claim 13, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 1 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches:
the method further comprising:
transmitting the TCI state may include IDs of one or more source reference signals (RSs)… The one or more source RSs may include a serving cell ID…”).
However, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. does not teach that the identifier/serving cell ID:
“comprises a physical cell identifier (PCI).”
On the other hand, in the same field of endeavor (Para. [0002]: “a system and method for uplink and downlink in multi-point communications”) Liu et al. teaches (Para. [0012]) a serving cell is identified based on or using:
“a physical cell identifier (PCI)” (Para. [0012]: “a first physical cell identifier (PCI) of the serving cell”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the serving cell in ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al.’s invention can be, alternatively or additional, identified using a physical cell identifier (PCI) as taught by Lui et al. where doing so would (Liu et al., Para. [0003], [0031]) provide “efficient and robust methods for UEs communicating with multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs)” and improve “signaling synchronization and reliability in multi-TRP (M-TRP) communications, especially inter-cell M-TRP and intra-cell M-TRP with larger separation, non-ideal backhaul, or imperfect synchronization.”
Regarding Claim 39, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al., discloses all as applied to claim 31 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches:
receiving the TCI state may include IDs of one or more source reference signals (RSs)… The one or more source RSs may include a serving cell ID…”).; and
configuring beam-related information based on the RRC configuration signaling (Para. [0084]: “the applicable DL reception/UL transmission types and/or resources [beam-related information] may be configured or indicated by the base station, for example, via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI”. That is, UE configures uplink or downlink resources base on the radio resource control (RRC) signaling).
However, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. does not teach that the identifier/serving cell ID:
“comprises a physical cell identifier (PCI).”
On the other hand, in the same field of endeavor (Para. [0002]: “a system and method for uplink and downlink in multi-point communications”) Liu et al. teaches (Para. [0012]) a serving cell is identified based on or using:
“a physical cell identifier (PCI)” (Para. [0012]: “a first physical cell identifier (PCI) of the serving cell”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the serving cell in ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al.’s invention can be, alternatively or additional, identified using a physical cell identifier (PCI) as taught by Lui et al. where doing so would (Liu et al., Para. [0003], [0031]) provide “efficient and robust methods for UEs communicating with multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs)” and improve “signaling synchronization and reliability in multi-TRP (M-TRP) communications, especially inter-cell M-TRP and intra-cell M-TRP with larger separation, non-ideal backhaul, or imperfect synchronization.”
Claim 38 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al (US 20230291533 A1 previously cited) in view of Tidestav et al. (US 20240064770 A1 previously cited) further in view of Zhang et al. (US 20210143936 A1 previously cited).
Regarding Claim 38, ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al. discloses all as applied to claim 31 above, where ZHOU et al. further teaches (Fig. 8, Para. [0007]) “The UE may transmit an acknowledgment to the base station confirming reception of the DCI indicating the TCI state”, however they do not teach:
transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to the network device upon receiving the DCI from the network device.
On the other hand, in the same field of endeavor (Para. [0002]: “wireless communication networks, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for beam management in unlicensed spectrum in a wireless communication system”), Zhang et al. teaches:
transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback to the network device upon receiving the DCI from the network device (Para. [0124]: “a DCI mode may be signaled by the network and determined by the UE based on a configured higher layer index (e.g., an index indicating a particular BS, e.g., TRP) per monitored CORESET and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback mode (e.g., joint or separate feedback, e.g., providing HARQ acknowledgements for communications from multiple BSs jointly to a single BS, or separately to individual BSs)”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the acknowledgment sent in response to receiving the DCI by the UE in ZHOU et al. in view of Tidestav et al.’s invention can be implemented using a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback as taught by Zhang et al. where doing so would (Zhang et al., Para. [0117]) “reduce signaling overhead and/or latency associated with DCI mode switch (e.g., fast mode switching between single-TRP/single-DCI and multi-DCI) and to reduce UE power consumption (e.g., via improved CORESET monitoring when UE switches from multi-DCI mode into single-DCI mode).”
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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/AMNEET SINGH/Examiner, Art Unit 2633 /SAM K AHN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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