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 .
Amendments dated 10/16/2026 is/are entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments directed at the arguments filed 10/16/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of a new ground of rejection necessitated by the amendments of record.
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-9, 13-16, 18-19, 21-24 are allowed. The independent claims 1 and 16 have been amended to include the previously indicated allowable subject matters.
Claims 25-30 are rejected. In contrast to the allowed claim where the allowable subject matters preside in the UE’s operation. Claims 25-30 are directed to the network side where they merely transmit configuration and reference signals. See the discussion below.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 25-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Siva, Muruganathan (WO 2020/225691 A1) – hereafter Siva in view of Muruganathan et al. (US 2024/0080843) and in further view of LI (2023/0361844).
As to claim 25:
Siva discloses:
A method of wireless communication at a base station, the method comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a transmission configuration indication (TCI) configuration including a global TCI state pool the global TCI state pool including a plurality of TCI state lists, at least one list is corresponding to at least a DL channel;
(See at least ¶0017, 0019, 0020, a set of N TCI states is provided to the UE via RRC from the base station. “A first list of available TCI states is configured for PDSCH, and a second list for PDCCH contains pointers, known as TCI State IDs, to a subset of the TCI states configured for PDSCH”, “the UE can be configured through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling with N Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states”, “Each of the N states in the list of TCI states can be interpreted as a list of N possible beams transmitted from the network or a list of N possible TRPs used by the network to communicate with the UE”. As at least PDCCH/PDSCH are DL channels, thus meet the condition of being one of a pool of plurality of channels having at least one downlink channel and at least one uplink channel)
transmitting, to the UE, a reference signal to be measured by the UE to determine channel information for a physical channel of the plurality of physical channels based on the global TCI state pool; (¶0018-0022, transmitting a reference signal indicated by each TCI states for the UE to make measurements) and communicating, via the physical channel, with the UE based on the channel information. (See abstract, ¶0055, communicate based on the activated communication configurations, ¶0124, “sending a new DCI to the UE if the channel conditions of the TRPs have been changed”, which updates with new/different TCI (i.e. identified by its identifier. See also ¶0040-0041 pertaining DCI having TCI code point)
Regarding: wherein a first TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to including at least one downlink channel, and wherein a second TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to at least one uplink channel.
Siva discloses in at least ¶0020 that the UE is configured with a plurality of TCI states, wherein at least one list corresponding to downlink channel as discussed above, however is silent on a second TCI state list of a plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to at least one uplink channel.
Muruganathan, in the same field of TCI-list based channel processing, discloses the network node configuring the UE with a plurality of TCI state lists just as with reference Siva, and further the lists comprises at least a first list of DL TCI states applicable to DL channel such as PDCCH/PDSCH etc. and a second list corresponds to UL physical channels. (See at least ¶0116, 0117)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that Siva’s plurality of TCI lists can be organized such that wherein a first TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to including at least one downlink channel, and wherein a second TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to at least one uplink channel. This implementation provides benefits such as improved management of beams, i.e. separate lists allows network to target a specific group (UL vs. DL) without the hassle of filtering each channel, and further simplifies UE processes, for example UE only needs to track the UL TCI list for power control vs. going through a generic TCI mixed list. In all, categorization helps lower signaling overhead and internal filtering.
Regarding: the first TCI state list and the second TCI state list each include a same TCI state identifier corresponding to a TCI state of the global TCI state pool.
Siva in view of Muruganathan already discloses the creation of a plurality of separate TCI lists, each listing identifiers of a plurality of TCI states, wherein a first list of DL TCI states applicable to DL channels such as PDCCH/PDSCH etc. and a second list corresponds to UL physical channels. This suggests the disclosed system retrieves the TCI states from at least one source.
Siva in view of Muruganathan however stops short of mention of such source, i.e. a global TCI state pool that the first and the second lists pull entries from (thus each having at least one same identifier for TCI state as the global pool).
Li, in a related field of TCI configuration and beam management, discloses a system/network to provide TCI state configuration to the UE, wherein the network obtains and manages a unified TCI pool (Abstract, 0007-0010), i.e (global list/pool), wherein the network then creates at least two separate pools from the unified TCI pool to create one for UL and one for DL (See ¶0254, 0017,0383-388), therefore each separate pool each has a same TCI state identifier from the unified (global) pool.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that the first and the second TCI state list of Siva/Muruganathan are pulled from UL and DL pools of a same global list populated by the system. Siva in view of Muruganathan already discloses the creation of a plurality of TCI lists, one corresponding to UL and one corresponding to DL. Li creates two separate TCI state pools also for UL and DL from a unified (global list). Both concerns with creating different groups of TCI states and separate UL/DL. POSITA would have made the connection and create Siva/Muruganathan’s first and second list from the framework provided by Li. The advantages of creating TCI state lists from a global pool includes allow ease in organizing, tracking different categories of TCI, as well as reducing complexity of system configuration, tracking and maintenance per ¶0018 of Li.
As to claim 28:
Siva discloses:
A base station for wireless communication, comprising: a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and at least one processor coupled with the memory (¶0127, base station with processor/memory) and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a transmission configuration indication (TCI) including a global TCI state pool, the global TCI state pool including a plurality of TCI state lists, at least one list is corresponding to at least a DL channel;
(See at least ¶0017, 0019, 0020, a set of N TCI states is provided to the UE via RRC from the base station. “A first list of available TCI states is configured for PDSCH, and a second list for PDCCH contains pointers, known as TCI State IDs, to a subset of the TCI states configured for PDSCH”, “the UE can be configured through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling with N Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states”, “Each of the N states in the list of TCI states can be interpreted as a list of N possible beams transmitted from the network or a list of N possible TRPs used by the network to communicate with the UE”. As at least PDCCH/PDSCH are DL channels, thus meet the condition of being one of a pool of plurality of channels having at least one downlink channel and at least one uplink channel)
transmit, to the UE, a reference signal to be measured by the UE to determine channel information for a physical channel of the plurality of physical channels based on the global TCI state pool; (¶0018-0022, transmitting a reference signal indicated by each TCI states for the UE to make measurements)
and communicate, via the physical channel, with the UE based on the channel information. (See abstract, ¶0055, communicate based on the activated communication configurations, ¶0124, “sending a new DCI to the UE if the channel conditions of the TRPs have been changed”, which updates with new/different TCI (i.e. identified by its identifier. See also ¶0040-0041 pertaining DCI having TCI code point)
Regarding: wherein a first TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to including at least one downlink channel, and wherein a second TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to at least one uplink channel.
Siva discloses in at least ¶0020 that the UE is configured with a plurality of TCI states, wherein at least one list corresponding to downlink channel as discussed above, however is silent on a second TCI state list of a plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to at least one uplink channel.
Muruganathan, in the same field of TCI-list based channel processing, discloses the UE is configured with a plurality of TCI state lists just as with reference Siva, and further the lists comprises at least a first list of DL TCI states applicable to DL channel such as PDCCH/PDSCH etc. and a second list corresponds to UL physical channels. (See at least ¶0116, 0117)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that Siva’s plurality of TCI lists can be organized such that wherein a first TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to including at least one downlink channel, and wherein a second TCI state list of the plurality of TCI state lists corresponds to at least one uplink channel. This implementation provides benefits such as improved management of beams, i.e. separate lists allows network to target a specific group (UL vs. DL) without the hassle of filtering each channel, and further simplifies UE processes, for example UE only needs to track the UL TCI list for power control vs. going through a generic TCI mixed list. In all, categorization helps lower signaling overhead and internal filtering.
Regarding: the first TCI state list and the second TCI state list each include a same TCI state identifier corresponding to a TCI state of the global TCI state pool.
Siva in view of Muruganathan already discloses the creation of a plurality of separate TCI lists, each listing identifiers of a plurality of TCI states, wherein a first list of DL TCI states applicable to DL channels such as PDCCH/PDSCH etc. and a second list corresponds to UL physical channels. This suggests the system pulls the TCI states from at least one source.
Siva in view of Muruganathan however stops short of mention of such source, i.e. a global TCI state pool that the first and the second list pull entries from (thus having at least one same identifier for TCI state as the global pool).
Li, in a related field of TCI configuration and beam management, discloses a system/network to provide TCI state configuration to the UE, wherein the network obtains and manages a unified TCI pool (Abstract, 0007-0010), i.e (global list/pool), wherein the network then creates at least two separate pools from the unified TCI pool to create one for UL and one for DL (See ¶0254, 0017,0383-388), therefore each separate pool each has a same TCI state identifier from the unified (global) pool.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that the first and the second TCI state list of Siva/Muruganathan are pulled from UL and DL pools of a same global list populated by the system. Siva in view of Muruganathan already discloses the creation of a plurality of TCI lists, one corresponding to UL and one corresponding to DL. Li creates two separate TCI state pools also for UL and DL from a unified (global list). Both concerns with creating different groups of TCI states and separate UL/DL. POSITA would have made the connection and create Siva/Muruganathan’s first and second list from the framework provided by Li. The advantages of creating TCI state lists from a global pool includes allow ease in organizing, tracking different categories of TCI, as well as reducing complexity of system configuration, tracking and maintenance per ¶0018 of Li.
As to claims 26, 29:
Siva in view of Muruganathan and Li discloses all limitations of claim 25/28, Siva further comprising: transmitting, to the UE, a TCI activation including a TCI state identifier associated with a TCI state, (¶0041-0043, receiving TCI code point corresponding to TCI state. A DCI received wherein each PDSCH is associated with a different TCI state. See also ¶0023, 0020, 0023, network to send TCI indicia via DCI) wherein the TCI activation activates the TCI state at the UE (See at least 0020-0022, 0040, 0041, activate one TCI state corresponding with the TCI indicia), for determining the channel information. (¶0011, 0012, 0018-0021 “Each TCI state contains QCL information, i.e., one or two source Downlink (DL) RSs, each source RS associated with a QCL type”, UE can derive Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread from CSI-RS1 and Spatial Rx parameter (i.e., the RX beam to use) from CSI-RS2”)
As to claims 27, 30:
Siva in view of Muruganathan and Li discloses all limitations of claim 25/28, Siva further comprising: transmitting, to the base station, a TCI update including a TCI state identifier associated with a TCI state, (¶0124, “sending a new DCI to the UE if the channel conditions of the TRPs have been changed”, which updates with new/different TCI (i.e. identified by its identifier. See also ¶0040-0041 pertaining DCI having TCI code point) wherein the TCI update activates the TCI state at the UE (See at least 0020-0022, 0040, 0041, activate one TCI state corresponding with the TCI indicia) for determining the channel information. (¶0011, 0012, 0018-0021 “Each TCI state contains QCL information, i.e., one or two source Downlink (DL) RSs, each source RS associated with a QCL type”, UE can derive Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread from CSI-RS1 and Spatial Rx parameter (i.e., the RX beam to use) from CSI-RS2”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-9, 13-16, 18-19, 21-24 are allowed. The independent claims 1 and 16 have been amended to include the previously indicated allowable subject matters. In view of updated search conducted, the claims are allowed, along with their respective dependent claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2020/0288359 - An operation method for a handover, performed by a terminal, may comprise receiving, from a base station of a serving cell, a first message including parameters for measurement and reporting; transmitting a second message to the base station of the serving cell, the second message including a measurement result based on the parameters for measurement and reporting; receiving a third message from the base station of the serving cell, the third message instructing to receive services simultaneously from the serving cell and a target cell; performing a radio access request procedure with the target cell; and transmitting a fourth message to the base station of the serving cell, the fourth message reporting completion of configuration for receiving the services simultaneously from the serving cell and the target cell.
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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/QUAN M HUA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
