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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 02 February 2024.
Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13, 24, 25 and 31-37 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted 15 January 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13, 24, 25 and 31-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Maleki et al. (US Publication 2024/0235785).
With respect to claims 1, 24, and 25, Maleki teaches A terminal device, comprising: a memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors that are communicatively coupled to the memory, (UE 200 includes processing circuitry 201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface 205, radio frequency (RF) interface 209, network connection interface 211, memory 215 including random access memory (RAM) 217, read-only memory (ROM) 219, and storage medium 221 or the like, communication subsystem 231, power source 213, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof, paragraph 145) wherein the computer-executable instructions when executed by the one or more processors cause the terminal device to:
receive indication information sent from a network device, wherein the indication information is configured to indicate whether an availability indication based on physical layer signaling is enabled; (an idle UE (i.e., a UE which is in RRC_Idle/Inactive states) is provided with one or more TRS/CSI-RS resource configurations through system information (SI) or other higher layer mechanisms, e.g., as part of an existing system information block (SIB) or a dedicated SIB, or dedicated signaling, paragraph 71. The explicit indication may include L1 based signaling, e.g., a paging DCI or an early paging indicator (PEI). For example, an availability bitfield can be configured in the reserved bits of the paging DCI for this purpose, paragraph 72)
determine, in response to determining that the availability indication is enabled, whether configuration information for a specific reference signal comprised in system information is available according to the availability indication; (The UE is additionally notified explicitly of the availability of TRS/CSI-RS resources in the provided configured occasions. The UE knows if the TRS/CSI-RS is currently transmitted or not in one or more occasions, paragraph 71.)
and determining whether the configuration information is available comprises at least one of: determining that the configuration information for the specific reference signal is available, in a case where the availability indication is configured by the network device: or determining that the configuration information for the specific reference signal is not available, in a case where the availability indication is not configured by the network device. (The wireless device receives TRS/CSI-RS availability from L1 based signaling, e.g., a paging DCI or PEI, paragraph 95. the wireless device detects a DCI based on a first beam index, the DCI indicating TRS resources are available, and determining the TRS resources are available for one or more beams based on the beam-association related configuration, paragraph 96)
With respect to claims 2 and 32, Maleki teaches wherein the availability indication is comprised in the system information, and the system information comprises at least one of system information block (SIB)1 or SIBx, wherein x is an integer greater than or equal to 2 (an idle UE (i.e., a UE which is in RRC_Idle/Inactive states) is provided with one or more TRS/CSI-RS resource configurations through system information (SI) or other higher layer mechanisms, e.g., as part of an existing system information block (SIB) or a dedicated SIB, or dedicated signaling, paragraph 71)
With respect to claims 3 and 33, Maleki teaches wherein the configuration information for the specific reference signal is initial deactivation (the network may do so, because either the network turns OFF the TRS in all the beams if it decides to turn OFF TRS or not at all, and thus availability indication is applicable to all the beams. In this case, even a single bit is sufficient to indicate if TRS is available or not, and additional bits can be used for other purposes, e.g., indicating the validity of TRS being available, paragraph 75. Examiner note: off is initial deactivation)
With respect to claims 4 and 11, Maleki teaches wherein the availability indication is a bitmap or a code point (The layer one signaling indicates that a TRS/CSI-RS is available in at least one TRS/CSI-RS occasion of the plurality of TRS/CSI-RS occasions (e.g., availability bitmap), paragraph 164)
With respect to claims 6 and 34, Maleki teaches further comprising:
determining, in response to determining that the availability indication is disabled, whether the configuration information for the specific reference signal is available according to whether the configuration information for the specific reference signal is configured in the system information, (The network can configure the availability bitfield as in this example embodiment, e.g., because the number of configured TRS beams are limited, e.g., there are only 2 TRS beams and thus the availability per beam can be handled by 2 bits in the DCI. Alternatively, the network may do so, because either the network turns OFF the TRS in all the beams if it decides to turn OFF TRS or not at all, and thus availability indication is applicable to all the beams. In this case, even a single bit is sufficient to indicate if TRS is available or not, and additional bits can be used for other purposes, e.g., indicating the validity of TRS being available, paragraph 75) and
wherein determining, in response to determining that the availability indication is disabled, whether the configuration information for the specific reference signal is available according to whether the configuration information for the specific reference signal is configured in the system information comprises at least one of
determining, in response to determining that the configuration information for the specific reference signal is configured in the system information, that the specific reference signal is configured in the system information; and the configuration information for the specific reference signal is initial activation,
determining, in response to determining that the configuration information for the specific reference signal is configured in the system information, that the specific reference signal is configured in the system information; and the configuration information for the specific reference signal is initial deactivation, or
determining, in response to determining that the configuration information for the specific reference signal is not configured in the system information, that the configuration information of the specific reference signal is initial deactivation. (The network can configure the availability bitfield as in this example embodiment, e.g., because the number of configured TRS beams are limited, e.g., there are only 2 TRS beams and thus the availability per beam can be handled by 2 bits in the DCI. Alternatively, the network may do so, because either the network turns OFF the TRS in all the beams if it decides to turn OFF TRS or not at all, and thus availability indication is applicable to all the beams. In this case, even a single bit is sufficient to indicate if TRS is available or not, and additional bits can be used for other purposes, e.g., indicating the validity of TRS being available, paragraph 75)
With respect to claims 7 and 35, Maleki teaches wherein the physical layer signaling is configured to carry a paging downlink control indicator (DCI) or a paging early indicator (PEI), and the availability indication is an availability indication based on the DCI or the PEI. (The explicit indication may include L1 based signaling, e.g., a paging DCI or an early paging indicator (PEI), paragraph 72)
With respect to claims 8 and 36, Maleki teaches wherein the method further comprises: receiving system information update indication information from the network device, wherein the system information update indication information is configured to indicate that the availability indication is enabled or disabled. (The network can configure the availability bitfield as in this example embodiment, e.g., because the number of configured TRS beams are limited, e.g., there are only 2 TRS beams and thus the availability per beam can be handled by 2 bits in the DCI. Alternatively, the network may do so, because either the network turns OFF the TRS in all the beams if it decides to turn OFF TRS or not at all, and thus availability indication is applicable to all the beams. In this case, even a single bit is sufficient to indicate if TRS is available or not, and additional bits can be used for other purposes, e.g., indicating the validity of TRS being available, paragraph 75)
With respect to claims 9 and 13, Maleki teaches wherein the configuration information for the specific reference signal is at least one of resource configuration information for a tracking reference signal (TRS) or resource configuration information for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). (where the network configures the availability signaling within the DCI such that the UE can become aware if TRS is available in specific beam, paragraph 73)
With respect to claims 10, 31 and 37, Maleki teaches A network device, comprising: a memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors that are communicatively coupled to the memory, (base station, eNB or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry 170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 180 or memory within processing circuitry 170, paragraph 112) wherein the computer-executable instructions when executed by the one or more processors cause the network device to perform:
sending indication information to a terminal device, wherein the indication information is configured to indicate whether an availability indication based on physical laver signaling is enabled, (an idle UE (i.e., a UE which is in RRC_Idle/Inactive states) is provided with one or more TRS/CSI-RS resource configurations through system information (SI) or other higher layer mechanisms, e.g., as part of an existing system information block (SIB) or a dedicated SIB, or dedicated signaling, paragraph 71. The explicit indication may include L1 based signaling, e.g., a paging DCI or an early paging indicator (PEI). For example, an availability bitfield can be configured in the reserved bits of the paging DCI for this purpose, paragraph 72)
availability of configuration information for a specific reference signal comprised in system information is determined according to the availability indication, in a case where the availability indication is enabled (The UE is additionally notified explicitly of the availability of TRS/CSI-RS resources in the provided configured occasions. The UE knows if the TRS/CSI-RS is currently transmitted or not in one or more occasions, paragraph 71.)
and wherein the availability of the configuration information for the specific reference signal comprises at least one of: the configuration information for the specific reference signal being available, in a case where the availability indication is configured by the network device, or the configuration information for the specific reference signal being unavailable, in a case where the availability indication is not configured by the network device. (The wireless device receives TRS/CSI-RS availability from L1 based signaling, e.g., a paging DCI or PEI, paragraph 95. the wireless device detects a DCI based on a first beam index, the DCI indicating TRS resources are available, and determining the TRS resources are available for one or more beams based on the beam-association related configuration, paragraph 96)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Reial et al. (US Publication 2024/0381307) discloses signaling to the plurality of wireless devices (WDs) tracking reference signal (TRS) configurations for each of N paging subgroups of WDs, each TRS configuration being associated with an instance of additional information out of a set of possible instances of additional information. The method also includes transmitting to the at least one WD a TRS conveying the paging early indicator (PEI) in accordance with a TRS configuration for a particular paging subgroup of the N paging subgroups, the TRS configured to indicate to the at least one WD a subsequent paging occasion (PO) to be monitored by the at least one WD, the TRS being associated with a particular additional information instance out of the set of possible additional information instances.
He et al. (US Publication 2024/0007252) discloses A terminal device receives configuration information of a reference signal (RS) resource. The terminal device is in an idle state or an inactive state. The configuration information contains a quasi-co-location (QCL) information field. The QCL information field carries first information. The first information is used for determining QCL information of the RS resource.
Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI AHMED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3652. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khalid Kassim can be reached on 571-270-3370. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475