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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/16/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/01/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 12/16/2025 has been entered. Independent claims 1, 10, 19, and 20 have been amended. No dependent claims have been amended. Claims 2 and 11 have been cancelled. No claims are new and have been entered. Claims 1, 3-10, and 12-20 are still pending in this application.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/04/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 10, 19, and 20 under 35 USC § 103, are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specified challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-9, 9-10, 12-15, and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (Pub. No.: US 20220338230 A1, hereafter “Yu”) in view of Onggosanusi (Pub. No.: US 20200145866 A1, hereafter “Onggosanusi”).
Regarding Claim 1, Claim 10, Claim 19, and Claim 20
Yu teaches a method and node comprising
A wireless communication method for use in a wireless terminal (Yu ¶0145: UE in the same UE group), the wireless communication method comprising: receiving (Yu ¶0145: common group signaling), from a wireless network node (Yu Fig. 1: 110) of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) (Yu ¶0144: in an NTN scenario), downlink control information (Yu ¶0145: DCI) based on an identifier (Yu ¶0145: group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI)) of a group of wireless terminals (Yu ¶0144: group of UEs whose control signaling is provided at the same time), wherein the downlink control information comprises at least one set of beam resource related indications (Yu ¶0141: beam management behavior that is specified in 3GPP TS Rel-15 may be applied, examiner’s note, case 3 may be combined with other implementations provided in case 2, see ¶0150; Yu teaches a UE in a group of a plurality of UEs receiving a common group signaling in an NTN scenario, with a temporary group identifier for beam management, see Fig 1, ¶0141, ¶0144, ¶0145, and ¶0150),
wherein the downlink control information comprises a group index associated (Yu ¶0145: group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI)) with the at least one set of beam resource related indications (Yu ¶0141: beam management behavior that is specified in 3GPP TS Rel-15 may be applied, examiner’s note, case 3 may be combined with other implementations provided in case 2, see ¶0150; Yu teaches an RNTI being used with beam management behavior), and
wherein the group index (Yu ¶0145: RNTI may be used to provide a BWP switch command) is mapped (Yu ¶0152: trigger a BWP switch) to a sequence (Yu ¶0152: UE may use a sequence-based transmission) of the at least one set of beam resource related indications (Yu ¶0141: beam management behavior that is specified in 3GPP TS Rel-15 may be applied, examiner’s note, a UE can implement the disclosed methods including case 1 through case 4, see ¶0155; Yu teaches the RNTI being used with a BWP switch for a sequence-based transmission, see ¶0141-¶0155).
Yu does not explicitly teach
wherein the set of beam resource related indications comprises at least one of a frequency resource identifier, a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state identifier, a carrier frequency offset or a polarization indicator;
However, Onggosanusi teaches
wherein the set of beam resource related indications (Onggosanusi ¶0116: beam report) comprises at least one of a frequency resource identifier (Onggosanusi ¶0114: DL beam indication), a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state identifier (Onggosanusi ¶0116: TCI field), a carrier frequency offset (Onggosanusi ¶0116: offset) or a polarization indicator (Onggosanusi ¶0123: polarized weight configured from DCI signaling; Onggosanusi teaches a beam report with a DCI containing an indicator, a TCI, an offset in the carrier frequency, and a polarized weight, see ¶0114-¶0116, and ¶0123);
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu by way of Onggosanusi, to include an element that teaches a beam report with a DCI containing an indicator, a TCI, an offset in the carrier frequency, and a polarized weight, as taught by Onggosanusi in ¶0114-¶0116, and ¶0123, to improve spectral efficiency through improving a quality report to help adjust parameters during communication and aggregate different quality trackers and reduce downtime.
Claim 19 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art, Yu teaches
at least one processor (Yu Fig. 15: 1528; Yu teaches a controller being used to perform functions saved in the storage medium)
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 12
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Onggosanusi further teaches
performing a communication by using a frequency resource corresponding to the frequency resource identifier (Onggosanusi ¶0114: utilizing DL beam indication; Onggosanusi teaches the DL beam indication being utilized for transmission, see ¶0114).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu by way of Onggosanusi, to include an element that teaches the DL beam indication being utilized for transmission, as taught by Onggosanusi in ¶0103, to improve spectral efficiency through improving a quality report to help adjust parameters during communication and aggregate different quality trackers and reduce downtime.
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 13
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Onggosanusi further teaches
wherein the set of beam resource related indications comprises the TCI state identifier, wherein the wireless communication method further comprises at least one of: applying a quasi-colocation assumption provided by a TCI state corresponding to the TCI state identifier to a reception of at least one of a physical downlink control channel (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a physical downlink shared channel (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a periodic channel state information reference signal (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a semi-persistent channel state information reference signal (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), an access point channel state information reference signal (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or a demodulation reference signal (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), applying a quasi-colocation assumption provided by a TCI state corresponding to the TCI state identifier to a transmission of at least one of a sounding reference signal (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a physical uplink control channel (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), a physical uplink shared channel (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) or a physical random access channel (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim); or performing a communication (Onggosanusi ¶0104: facilitate DL beam selection) by using the same frequency resource associated with a reference signal included in a configuration of a TCI state (Onggosanusi ¶0104: using the frequency bandwidth from the CS-SINR information) corresponding to the TCI state identifier (Onggosanusi ¶0104: for DL beam selection; Onggosanusi teaches using the DCI state to generate a beam selection with the same bandwidth for communication, see ¶0104).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu by way of Onggosanusi, to include an element that teaches using the DCI state to generate a beam selection with the same bandwidth for communication, as taught by Onggosanusi in ¶0104, to improve spectral efficiency through improving a quality report to help adjust parameters during communication and aggregate different quality trackers and reduce downtime.
Regarding Claim 5 and Claim 14
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Onggosanusi further teaches
performing a communication by applying a synchronization according to the carrier frequency offset (Onggosanusi ¶0103: synchronization signal block; Onggosanusi teaches a TCI being generated with a synchronization signal block, see ¶0103).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu by way of Onggosanusi, to include an element that teaches a TCI being generated with a synchronization signal block, as taught by Onggosanusi in ¶0103, to improve spectral efficiency through improving a quality report to help adjust parameters during communication and aggregate different quality trackers and reduce downtime.
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 15
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Onggosanusi further teaches
performing communications by using a polarization indicated by the polarization indicator (Onggosanusi ¶0123: polarized; Onggosanusi teaches the UE using the polarized ports for TXRUs and, thus, transmissions, see ¶0123).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu by way of Onggosanusi, to include an element that teaches the UE using the polarized ports for TXRUs and, thus, transmissions, as taught by Onggosanusi in ¶0123, to improve spectral efficiency through improving a quality report to help adjust parameters during communication and aggregate different quality trackers and reduce downtime.
Regarding Claim 9 and Claim 18
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Yu further teaches
wherein the at least one set of beam resource related indications is associated with at least one of an uplink communication (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) or a downlink communication (Yu ¶0145: DCI, e.g. Downlink Control Information; Yu teaches the information is related for downlink control, see ¶0145).
Claim(s) 7-8 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (Pub. No.: US 20220338230 A1, hereafter “Yu”) in view of Onggosanusi (Pub. No.: US 20200145866 A1, hereafter “Onggosanusi”), further in view of Wong (Pub. No.: US 20200014572 A1, hereafter “Wong”).
Regarding Claim 7
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Yu in view of Onggosanusi does not explicitly teach
wherein the downlink control information is received at a slot n, where n is an integer, wherein the wireless communication method further comprises at least one of: monitoring a downlink transmission on at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indications corresponding to the wireless terminal no earlier than a slot (n+m), wherein m is an integer determined based on a capability of the wireless terminal switching the at least one beam resource, or transmitting an uplink transmission on at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indications corresponding to the wireless terminal no earlier than a slot (n+Koffset+I), wherein I is an integer determined based on a capability of the wireless terminal switching the at least one beam resource, and K_offset refers to an additional scheduling offset which is configured by the wireless network node
However, Wong further teaches
wherein the downlink control information is received at a slot n (Wong Fig. 10: DCI allocating PUSCH), where n is an integer (Wong Fig. 10: 2), wherein the wireless communication method further comprises at least one of: monitoring a downlink transmission on at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indications (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) corresponding to the wireless terminal no earlier than a slot (n+m) (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), wherein m is an integer determined based on a capability of the wireless terminal switching the at least one beam resource (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or transmitting an uplink transmission on at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indications corresponding to the wireless terminal (Wong Fig. 10: A) no earlier than a slot (n+Koffset+I) (Wong Fig. 10: 0), wherein I is an integer determined based on a capability of the wireless terminal switching the at least one beam resource (Wong ¶0098: index set by DCI), and K_offset refers to an additional scheduling offset (Wong Fig. 10: 3) which is configured by the wireless network node (Wong ¶0098: configured by base station; Wong teaches a DCI with a set integer with an earlier slot used in an index, see Fig. 10 and ¶0098).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu in view of Onggosanusi by way of Wong, to include an element that teaches a DCI with a set integer with an earlier slot used in an index, as taught by Wong in Fig. 10 and ¶0098, to improve network communication systems by combining a known element with another known element and generating an expected result, to reduce communication downtime and improve the quality of service for end-to-end user systems.
Regarding Claim 8 and Claim 17
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Wong further teaches
receiving (Wong ¶0080: to the terminal device), from the wireless network node, a switching request indicating a timing (Wong ¶0079: subframe switches) of applying at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indication (Wong Fig. 3: PUSCH) corresponding to the wireless terminal in the at least one set of beam resource related indications for communications (Wong Fig. 3: PUCCH Format 1), and applying the at least one beam resource of the set of beam resource related indication corresponding to the wireless terminal at the timing (Wong ¶0080: PDSCH), wherein the switching request is received via a wireless terminal specific downlink control information configured for the wireless terminal or the latest switching request received from the wireless network node (Wong ¶0080: allocated to the terminal device; Wong teaches the terminal device, e.g. UE, receiving information relating to subframe switches for multiple types of PUCCH formats and downlink data associated to enable communication, see Fig. 3 and ¶0079-¶0080).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu in view of Onggosanusi by way of Wong, to include an element that teaches a DCI with a set integer with an earlier slot used in an index, as taught by Wong in Fig. 3 and ¶0079-¶0080to improve network communication systems by combining a known element with another known element and generating an expected result, to reduce communication downtime and improve the quality of service for end-to-end user systems.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (Pub. No.: US 20220338230 A1, hereafter “Yu”) in view of Onggosanusi (Pub. No.: US 20200145866 A1, hereafter “Onggosanusi”) and further in view of Manolakos (Pub. No.: US 20190254061 A1, hereafter “Manolakos”).
Regarding Claim 16
Yu in view of Onggosanusi teaches a method and node as explained above in Claim 1. Yu in view of Onggosanusi does not explicitly teach
wherein at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indication corresponding to the wireless terminal in the at least one set of beam resource related indications is applied at a slot i, wherein i is an integer, wherein the wireless communication method further comprises: transmitting the downlink control information no later than a slot (i-j), wherein j is an integer determined based on the longest propagation delay of the group of wireless terminals
However, Manolakos teaches
wherein at least one beam resource of a set of beam resource related indication (Manolakos ¶0100: DCI) corresponding to the wireless terminal in the at least one set of beam resource related indications (Manolakos ¶0100: SRS resource) is applied at a slot i (Manolakos ¶0100: index), wherein i is an integer (Manolakos ¶0100: slot index), wherein the wireless communication method further comprises: transmitting the downlink control information no later than a slot (i-j) (Manolakos ¶0100: minimum amount of time), wherein j is an integer determined based on the longest propagation delay of the group of wireless terminals (Manolakos ¶0100: a first delay; Manolakos teaches a DCI for an SRS resource relating to an index in a slot index, with a second processing time relating to a delay, see ¶0100).
It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yu in view of Onggosanusi by way of Manolakos, to include an element that teaches a DCI for an SRS resource relating to an index in a slot index, with a second processing time relating to a delay, as taught by Manolakos in ¶0100, to improve resource communication to better handle a dynamic spectral landscape and allow for lower end systems to communicate efficiently with MIMO technology.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER whose telephone number is (703)756-4763. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 4:00pm.
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/JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
/Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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