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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of papers, which have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on December 26, 2023, December 4, 2024, and December 18, 2025 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application.
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 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 of this title, 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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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, 2, 5, 6, 9, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zeineddine et al. (hereinafter Zeineddine) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0323712 A1) in view of Tsai et al. (hereinafter Tsai) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0151149 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Zeineddine teaches and discloses a communication method executed by a communication apparatus (UE; figures 2 and 4) that communicates with a base station (base station/gNB; figures 1 and 3) that manages a cell (serving cell) including two transmission/reception points (first TRP (TRP A) and second TRP (TRP B), figures 4 and 6), the communication apparatus comprising:
a communicator (transmitter/receiver, figure 2) configured to receive, from the base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including information for configuring a first beam failure detection resource set and a second beam failure detection resource set ([0086]; “…a MAC entity may be configured by RRC per serving cell with a beam failure recovery procedure…”; [0095]; “…a BFD-RS set on which a UE evaluates a quality of a link is configured by a network explicitly using RRC configuration…”; [0112]; “…receiving configuration information comprising at least one reference signal resource configuration of the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set; and determining whether the first beam failure detection reference signal set or the second beam failure detection reference signal set corresponds to the at least one reference signal resource configuration based on the received configuration information…”; teaches the UE receives, via RRC message, configuration information including a first beam failure detection reference signal set and a second beam failure detection reference signal set); and
a controller (processor, figure 2) configured to detect a first beam failure for the first beam failure detection resource set and detect a second beam failure for the second beam failure detection resource set ([0036]; “…determine, at a user equipment, a first beam failure detection reference signal set and a second beam failure detection reference signal set for a serving cell…determine, at a physical layer in the user equipment, a radio link quality of reference signal resource configurations in each of the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set…”; [0069]; “…If the UE has estimated that a quality of a link is not adequate to maintain reliable communication, the UE declares beam failure…”; [0086]; [0112]; teaches the UE detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set).
However, Zeineddine may not explicitly disclose wherein the controller is configured to: in a case where a first reference signal resource for the first beam failure is not provided, determine the first reference signal resource to include a periodic channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for a first control resource set (CORESET) of a first CORESET pool index, and in a case where a second reference signal resource for the second beam failure is not provided, determine the second reference signal resource to include a periodic CSI-RS resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a second TCI state for a second CORESET of a second CORESET pool index.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Tsai teaches and suggests wherein the controller is configured to: in a case where a first reference signal resource for the first beam failure is not provided ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…”; teaches in case where a RS resource for beam failure detection is not explicitly provided to the UE), determine the first reference signal resource to include a periodic channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for a first control resource set (CORESET) of a first CORESET pool index ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…the implicit method can be referred as the UE determines RS for BFD based on the TCI states for respective control resource sets that the UE uses for monitoring PDCCH for a particular radio link…”; [0086]; [0087]; “…UE 200 determines the set q0,0,k (index i=0) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets configured or indicated (e.g. by RRC or MAC CE) by TCI-State for respective CORESETs with coresetPoolIndex-r16 equal to p0 (p0 may be 0 or 1) that UE…”; teaches determining the RS resource to include a CSI-RS resource configuration with the same value as a reference signal resource set indicated by the TCI state for a respective control resource set (CORESET)), and in a case where a second reference signal resource for the second beam failure is not provided ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…”; teaches in case where a RS resource for beam failure detection is not explicitly provided to the UE), determine the second reference signal resource to include a periodic CSI-RS resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a second TCI state for a second CORESET of a second CORESET pool index ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…the implicit method can be referred as the UE determines RS for BFD based on the TCI states for respective control resource sets that the UE uses for monitoring PDCCH for a particular radio link…”; [0086]; [0087]; “…UE 200 determines the set q0,0,k (index i=0) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets configured or indicated (e.g. by RRC or MAC CE) by TCI-State for respective CORESETs with coresetPoolIndex-r16 equal to p0 (p0 may be 0 or 1) that UE…”; teaches determining the RS resource to include a CSI-RS resource configuration with the same value as a reference signal resource set indicated by the TCI state for a respective control resource set (CORESET)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate in case where a RS resource for beam failure detection is not explicitly provided to the UE determining the RS resource to include a CSI-RS resource configuration with the same value as a reference signal resource set indicated by the TCI state for a respective control resource set (CORESET) as taught by Tsai with the apparatus and method for detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set as disclosed by Zeineddine for the purpose of supporting beam failure detection with multi-TRP transmission, as suggested by Tsai.
Regarding claims 2, 6, and 10, Zeineddine, as modified by Tsai, further teaches and suggests wherein the controller is configured to: in a case where the first TCI state includes two reference signal indexes, determine the first reference signal resource to include a reference signal index configured with qcl-Type set to ‘typeD’ for the first TCI state, and in a case where the second first TCI state includes two reference signal indexes, determine the second reference signal resource to include a reference signal index configured with qcl-Type set to ‘typeD’ for the second TCI state ([0070]; “…For implicit configuration, if a TCI state includes two RSs, the UE selects the RS that is configured with QCL-typeD if the QCL type is configured…”; [0075]; “…the UE determines the set q0 to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESETs that the UE uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q0 includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states…”; [0098]; teaches in the case the TCI state includes two RSs, determining the RS resources configured with QCL-typeD).
Regarding claim 5, Zeineddine teaches and discloses a base station (base station/gNB; figures 1 and 3) that manages a cell (serving cell) including two transmission/reception points (first TRP (TRP A) and second TRP (TRP B), figures 4 and 6), the base station comprising:
a transmitter (transmitter/receiver, figure 3) configured to transmit, to a communication apparatus, a radio resource control (RRC) message including information for configuring a first beam failure detection resource set and a second beam failure detection resource set ([0086]; “…a MAC entity may be configured by RRC per serving cell with a beam failure recovery procedure…”; [0095]; “…a BFD-RS set on which a UE evaluates a quality of a link is configured by a network explicitly using RRC configuration…”; [0112]; “…receiving configuration information comprising at least one reference signal resource configuration of the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set; and determining whether the first beam failure detection reference signal set or the second beam failure detection reference signal set corresponds to the at least one reference signal resource configuration based on the received configuration information…”; teaches the UE receives, via RRC message, configuration information including a first beam failure detection reference signal set and a second beam failure detection reference signal set); and
a controller (processor, figure 3) configured to control, based on the information for configuring the first beam failure detection resource set and the second beam failure detection resource set, the communication apparatus to detect a first beam failure for the first beam failure detection resource set and detect a second beam failure for the second beam failure detection resource set ([0036]; “…determine, at a user equipment, a first beam failure detection reference signal set and a second beam failure detection reference signal set for a serving cell…determine, at a physical layer in the user equipment, a radio link quality of reference signal resource configurations in each of the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set…”; [0069]; “…If the UE has estimated that a quality of a link is not adequate to maintain reliable communication, the UE declares beam failure…”; [0086]; [0112]; teaches the UE detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set).
However, Zeineddine may not explicitly disclose wherein the controller is configured to: in a case where a first reference signal resource for the first beam failure is not provided, determine the first reference signal resource to include a periodic channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for a first control resource set (CORESET) of a first CORESET pool index, and in a case where a second reference signal resource for the second beam failure is not provided, determine the second reference signal resource to include a periodic CSI-RS resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a second TCI state for a second CORESET of a second CORESET pool index.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Tsai teaches and suggests wherein the controller is configured to: in a case where a first reference signal resource for the first beam failure is not provided ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…”; teaches in case where a RS resource for beam failure detection is not explicitly provided to the UE), determine the first reference signal resource to include a periodic channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for a first control resource set (CORESET) of a first CORESET pool index ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…the implicit method can be referred as the UE determines RS for BFD based on the TCI states for respective control resource sets that the UE uses for monitoring PDCCH for a particular radio link…”; [0086]; [0087]; “…UE 200 determines the set q0,0,k (index i=0) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets configured or indicated (e.g. by RRC or MAC CE) by TCI-State for respective CORESETs with coresetPoolIndex-r16 equal to p0 (p0 may be 0 or 1) that UE…”; teaches determining the RS resource to include a CSI-RS resource configuration with the same value as a reference signal resource set indicated by the TCI state for a respective control resource set (CORESET)), and in a case where a second reference signal resource for the second beam failure is not provided ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…”; teaches in case where a RS resource for beam failure detection is not explicitly provided to the UE), determine the second reference signal resource to include a periodic CSI-RS resource configuration index with the same value as a reference signal index in a reference signal set indicated by a second TCI state for a second CORESET of a second CORESET pool index ([0069]; “…an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD…the implicit method can be referred as the UE determines RS for BFD based on the TCI states for respective control resource sets that the UE uses for monitoring PDCCH for a particular radio link…”; [0086]; [0087]; “…UE 200 determines the set q0,0,k (index i=0) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets configured or indicated (e.g. by RRC or MAC CE) by TCI-State for respective CORESETs with coresetPoolIndex-r16 equal to p0 (p0 may be 0 or 1) that UE…”; teaches determining the RS resource to include a CSI-RS resource configuration with the same value as a reference signal resource set indicated by the TCI state for a respective control resource set (CORESET)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate in case where a RS resource for beam failure detection is not explicitly provided to the UE determining the RS resource to include a CSI-RS resource configuration with the same value as a reference signal resource set indicated by the TCI state for a respective control resource set (CORESET) as taught by Tsai with the apparatus and method for detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set as disclosed by Zeineddine for the purpose of supporting beam failure detection with multi-TRP transmission, as suggested by Tsai.
Claims 3, 7, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zeineddine et al. (hereinafter Zeineddine) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0323712 A1) in view of Tsai et al. (hereinafter Tsai) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0151149 A1), and further in view of MÄÄTTÄNEN et al. (hereinafter Määttänen) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2023/0413077 A1).
Regarding claims 3, 7, and 11, Zeineddine, as modified by Tsai, discloses the UE detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set, but may not explicitly disclose wherein the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part, and the BWP-DownlinkDedicated includes information for configuring a reference signal resource for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the first beam failure detection resource set and the second beam failure detection resource set.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Määttänen teaches wherein the RRC message includes BWP-DownlinkDedicated which is an information element used for configuring communication apparatus specific parameters of a downlink bandwidth part, and the BWP-DownlinkDedicated includes information for configuring a reference signal resource for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the first beam failure detection resource set and the second beam failure detection resource set ([0004]; [0070]; Table 6; [0074]; Table 7; [0078]; teaches the RRC message including BWP-DownlinkDedicated parameter for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the beam failure detection resource set).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the RRC message including BWP-DownlinkDedicated parameter for cell level radio link monitoring and the information for configuring the beam failure detection resource set as taught by Määttänen with the apparatus and method for detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set as disclosed by Zeineddine, as modified by Tsai, for the purpose of supporting beam failure detection with multi-TRP transmission, as suggested by Määttänen.
Claims 4, 8, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zeineddine et al. (hereinafter Zeineddine) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0323712 A1) in view of Tsai et al. (hereinafter Tsai) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2025/0151149 A1), and further in view of Matsummura et al. (hereinafter Matsummura) (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2024/0008052 A1).
Regarding claims 4, 8, and 12, Zeineddine, as modified by Tsai, discloses the UE detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set, but may not explicitly disclose wherein each of the first beam failure detection resource set and the second beam failure detection resource set includes a list for adding and/or modifying one or more reference signal resources.
Nonetheless, in the same field of endeavor, Matsummura teaches wherein each of the first beam failure detection resource set and the second beam failure detection resource set includes a list for adding and/or modifying one or more reference signal resources ([0153]; teaches the BFD RS includes a list for adding RS resources and TCI state).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the BFD RS includes a list for adding RS resources and TCI state set as taught by Matsummura with the apparatus and method for detects and determines a beam failure for the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set as disclosed by Zeineddine, as modified by Tsai, for the purpose of supporting and improving beam failure detection with multi-TRP transmission, as suggested by Matsummura.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
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/Suk Jin Kang/
Examiner, Art Unit 2477
February 19, 2026