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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 34-53 have been examined and are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
An initialed and dated copy of Applicant’s IDS form 1449 submitted 12/27/2023, 05/04/2024, 02/3/2025is attached to the instant office action. 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 Objections
Applicant is advised that should claims 34-43 be found allowable, claims 44-51 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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.
Claim(s) 34-53 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2023/0328605 A1 (provisional application no. 63/422,256) to Farag et al. (hereinafter “Farag”)
Regarding Claim 34, Farag teaches A method of wireless communication, comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device from a network device, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling of a cell switch command ([0007]-[0008], disclose a UE (i.e. wireless device) receives a cell switch command (i.e. cell switch command) from a base station (i.e. network device). [0386], discloses the switching of serving cell is signaled by MAC CE) that indicates one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for one or more candidate cells or a target cell; ([0167], When the cell switch command is received the UE uses the indicated TCI state (i.e. indicates one or more TCI states for a target cell) (associated with the serving cell) and starts communicating with the target serving cell) and
operating the wireless device according to the MAC CE signaling. ([0167] When the cell switch command is received the UE uses the indicated TCI state (associated with the serving cell) and starts communicating (i.e. operating according to the MAC CE signaling) with the target serving cell.)
Regarding Claim 35, Farag teaches The method of claim 34, wherein one or more indicated TCI states are from a TCI state pool, and wherein the TCI state pool is configured by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling. ([0161], discloses a UE is configured/updated through higher layer RRC signaling with a set of TCI States (i.e. TCI state pool) with N elements.)
Regarding Claim 36, Farag teaches The method of claim 34, wherein one or more indicated TCI states are from a set of activated or updated TCI states. ([0158], discloses TCI state codepoint is activated by MAC Control Element (CE) . [0162], discloses MAC CE signaling includes a subset of M TCI states or TCI state codepoints (i.e. activated TCI states) from the set of N TCI states (where M≤N))
Regarding Claim 37, Farag teaches The method of claim 36, wherein another MAC CE signaling activates or updates a set of TCI states from a TCI state pool. ([0158], discloses TCI state codepoint is activated by MAC Control Element (CE))
Regarding Claim 38, Farag teaches The method of claim 37, wherein: a joint TCI state pool is configured for indicating the one or more TCI states for at least one of the one or more candidate cells, the target cell, or a serving cell; ([0161], discloses In one example, DL (i.e. separate TCI state pool) and joint TCI states (i.e. joint TCI state pool) are configured by higher layer parameter DLorJoint-TCIState, wherein the number of DL and Joint TCI states is N.sub.DJ. UL TCI states are configured by higher layer parameter UL-TCIState, wherein the number of UL TCI states is N.sub.U. N, the total number of configured TCI states, can be given by: N=N.sub.DJ+N.sub.U. In one example, the TCI states can be configured for source serving cell and one or more target serving cells.)
Regarding Claim 39, Farag teaches The method of any of claim 34, wherein: at least one of an indicated TCI state, a cell switch information, or the cell switch command is applied or takes effect starting from a particular time, ([0265], discloses The cell switch can happen at the application time (i.e. particular time of the TCI state (whether the TCI state is included in the cell switch command as aforementioned, or the TCI state indication itself triggers cell switch as aforementioned). In a variant example, the beam application time starts from the end of the channel that carriers the beam indication (i.e. reference time/position). Examiner notes that other alternative options are not required to be contemplated to teach on the claimed invention)
Regarding Claim 40, Farug teaches The method of claim 39, wherein the reference time or the position is at least one of: an ending time or a starting time of a signaling corresponding to transmitting or receiving at least one of TCI state or the cell switch command or the cell switch information; an ending time or a starting time of transmitting or receiving at least one of a TCI state or the cell switch command or the cell switch information; ([0265], discloses The cell switch can happen at the application time (i.e. particular time of the TCI state (whether the TCI state is included in the cell switch command as aforementioned, or the TCI state indication itself triggers cell switch as aforementioned). In a variant example, the beam application time starts from the end of the channel that carriers the beam indication (i.e. reference time/position)) an ending time or a starting time of an acknowledgement to transmit or receive; an ending time or a starting time of transmission or reception of an acknowledgement corresponding to a signaling that is used for transmitting or receiving at least one of the TCI state or the cell switch command or the cell switch information; or an ending time or a starting time of transmission of an acknowledgement corresponding to transmitting or receiving at least one of a TCI state or the cell switch command or the cell switch information. ([0264], discloses After a beam application time from the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) of the channel conveying the TCI state (or TCI state codepoint), the signaled TCI state is applied and the UE switches from the source serving cell to the destination serving cell. [0273]-[0278], further discloses various different ways for determining beam application time)
Regarding Claim 41, Farug teaches The method of claim 39, wherein the time interval is at least one of: Mx N time units, wherein M and N are positive integers; or a time gap. ([0265], In one example, the beam application time (i.e. time interval) can equal the cell switch time (i.e. time gap))
Regarding Claim 42, Farug teaches The method of claim 34, wherein the cell switch command or a cell switch information includes at least one of:
([0391], discloses the TCI state is included in the cell switch command. Examiner notes that other alternative options are not required to be contemplated to teach on the claimed invention)
Regarding Claim 43, Farug teaches The method of claim 34, wherein
Farug teaches a tracking reference signal (TRS), a synchronization signal block (SSB), or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) in a TCI state is quasi co-located with a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein being quasi co-located comprises quasi-location (QCL) type A, QCL type B, QCL type C, or QCL type D. ([0139], discloses a beam is determined by either of: a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that establishes a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship or spatial relation between a source reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SS/PBCH Block or SSB) or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)) and a target reference signal, or spatial relationship information that establishes an association to a source reference signal, such as an SSB, CSI-RS, or sounding reference signal (SRS). In either case, the ID of the source reference signal identifies the beam. [0152], further discloses The quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between reference signals can be defined with respect to one or more of the following QCL types (see [4], section 5.1.5): Type A, {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}. Type B, {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}. Type C, {Doppler shift, average delay}. Type D, {Spatial Rx parameter}. [0231] and [0344], discloses The DM-RS antenna port associated with DL channels is quasi co-located with reference signals provided by the DL unified (master or main or indicated) TCI state.)
Claims 44-45 are rejected for having the same limitations as Claims 34-35.
Claim 46 is rejected for having the same limitations as Claim 37.
Claims 47-48 are rejected for having the same limitations as claims 38-39.
Claim 49 is rejected for having the same limitations as Claim 41.
Claims 50-41 are rejected for having the same limitations as claims 42-43.
Regarding Claim 52, Farug teaches An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: ([0008], discloses base station)
one or more processors configured to: ([0008], discloses base station comprising processor)
transmit, by a network device, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling of a cell switch command ([0007]-[0008], disclose a UE receives a cell switch command (i.e. cell switch command) from a base station (i.e. network device). [0386], discloses the switching of serving cell is signaled by MAC CE) that indicates one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for one or more candidate cells or a target cell. ([0167], When the cell switch command is received the UE uses the indicated TCI state (i.e. indicates one or more TCI states for a target cell) (associated with the serving cell) and starts communicating with the target serving cell)
Regarding Claim 53, Farug teaches An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: ([0007], discloses UE)
one or more processor configured to: ([0007], discloses UE comprising a processor)
receive, by a wireless device from a network device, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling of a cell switch command ([0007]-[0008], disclose a UE (i.e. wireless device) receives a cell switch command (i.e. cell switch command) from a base station (i.e. network device). [0386], discloses the switching of serving cell is signaled by MAC CE) that indicates one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for one or more candidate cells or a target cell; ([0167], When the cell switch command is received the UE uses the indicated TCI state (i.e. indicates one or more TCI states for a target cell) (associated with the serving cell) and starts communicating with the target serving cell) and operate the wireless device according to the MAC CE signaling. ([0167] When the cell switch command is received the UE uses the indicated TCI state (associated with the serving cell) and starts communicating (i.e. operating according to the MAC CE signaling) with the target serving cell.)
Conclusion
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/JENKEY VAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477