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 .
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.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0179587; hereinafter Yuan) in view of Sun et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0364488; hereinafter Sun).
Regarding claim 1, Yuan discloses an apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus (see Fig. 6, para. 0104 – 0105, 0109, communication apparatus 600 includes a processor 610 with a memory 630 configured to store instructions executed by the processor 610) at least to: receive an indication to activate one or more transmission configuration indication states associated with at least one of: a source cell, or at least one target cell (see abstract, para. 0006, 0008, …sends the first information to a terminal device, where the first information indicates to activate a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a candidate target cell).
Yuan does not disclose the claimed features of: regarding claim 1, update a list of activated transmission configuration indication states based, at least partially, on the received indication.
Regarding claim 1, Sun discloses update a list of activated transmission configuration indication states based, at least partially, on the received indication (see para. 0041, 0044, UE may update a first TCI state list based on target indication information).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan, and have the features, as taught by Sun, to update TCI state list and to improve flexibility of the UE in making the TCI state list effective, thereby avoiding a performance loss in uplink/downlink data transmission when the network-side device schedules the UE, as discussed by Sun (para. 0041).
Regarding claim 2, Yuan discloses wherein the indication is received via a medium access control control element (see para. 0011, the first information is MAC CE signaling).
Regarding claim 5, Yuan discloses wherein the list of activated transmission configuration indication states is continuously codepoint indexed (see para. 0091, As shown in Table 1, the set of codepoints includes a value 010 and a value 011. When the codepoint of the TCI indication field in the DCI is 010 or 011, handover of the serving cell is performed during the beam switching).
Regarding claim 11, Yuan discloses wherein the indication comprises an identifier of the list of activated transmission configuration indication states (see para. 0088, The preconfigured information includes the one or more TCI state identifiers…Specifically, TCI state identifiers that are associated with changing the serving cell may be configured. For example, the set of TCI state identifiers may include TCI state IDs {32 to 63}. When a TCI state identifier in the MAC CE is any one of the TCI state IDs {32 to 63}).
Regarding claim 13, Yuan discloses wherein the indication is received via one of: a transmission configuration indication state specific medium access control control element (see abstract, para. 0011, where the first information indicates to activate a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a candidate target cell…and the first information is MAC CE signaling), an intra-cell medium access control control element, or a lower layer triggered mobility medium access control control element.
Regarding claim 14, Yuan discloses a method comprising: receiving, by a user equipment, an indication to activate one or more transmission configuration indication states associated with at least one of: a source cell, or at least one target cell (see abstract, para. 0006, 0008, …sends the first information to a terminal device, where the first information indicates to activate a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a candidate target cell).
Yuan does not disclose the claimed features of: regarding claim 14, updating a list of activated transmission configuration indication states based, at least partially, on the received indication.
Regarding claim 14, Sun discloses updating a list of activated transmission configuration indication states based, at least partially, on the received indication (see para. 0041, 0044, UE may update a first TCI state list based on target indication information).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan, and have the features, as taught by Sun, to update TCI state list and to improve flexibility of the UE in making the TCI state list effective, thereby avoiding a performance loss in uplink/downlink data transmission when the network-side device schedules the UE, as discussed by Sun (para. 0041).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0179587; hereinafter Yuan) in view of Sun et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0364488; hereinafter Sun) and further in view of Hwang et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0155445; hereinafter Hwang).
Yuan and Sun do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 3.
Regarding claim 3, Hwang discloses wherein the at least one memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive a lower layer triggered mobility configuration for the at least one target cell (see abstract, para. 0014 – 0015, receiving, from a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including lower layer triggered mobility (LTM) configuration information corresponding to performing the LTM handover to a target cell).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan and Sun, and have the features, as taught by Hwang, in order to provide for beamforming and massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) for alleviating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, as discussed by Hwang (para. 0004).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0179587; hereinafter Yuan) in view of Sun et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0364488; hereinafter Sun) and further in view of Bai et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0106376; hereinafter Bai).
Yuan and Sun do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 4.
Regarding claim 4, Bai discloses wherein the at least one memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive an indication of a codepoint value of the list of activated transmission configuration indication states (see para. 0070, The active TCI state codepoint can refer to a list of TCI state identifiers that are activated from a list of previously configured TCI state information); and determine a transmission configuration indication state of the list of activated transmission configuration indication states based, at least partially, on the indicated codepoint value (see para. 0023, a TCI codepoint, including up to two TCI states, is defined, where each TCI state corresponds to a beam from a TRP, para. 0070, The lower identifier of active TCI state codepoints can be the TCI state identifier at a first codepoint (e.g., codepoint 0)).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan and Sun, and have the features, as taught by Bai, in order to improve quality of communications by increasing signal strength at least as received at the UE, as discussed by Bai (para. 0024).
Claims 7 – 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0179587; hereinafter Yuan) in view of Sun et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0364488; hereinafter Sun) and further in view of Takeda et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0276482; hereinafter Takeda).
Yuan and Sun do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claims 7 – 10 and 12.
Regarding claim 7, Takeda discloses wherein the at least one memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive an indication to reset the list of activated transmission configuration indication states; and remove activated transmission configuration indication states from the list of transmission configuration indication states in response to the indication to reset the list (para. 0090, the UE 120 may receive a MAC CE indicating…deactivation of a TCI state…For example, the UE 120 may alter a table of mappings of TCI state field values to TCI states to remove deactivated TCI states…).
Regarding claim 8, Takeda discloses wherein the indication comprises an indication to reset the list of activated transmission configuration indication states, wherein the at least one memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: remove at least one activated transmission configuration indication state from the list of transmission configuration indication states in response to the indication to reset the list (para. 0090, the UE 120 may receive a MAC CE indicating…deactivation of a TCI state…For example, the UE 120 may alter a table of mappings of TCI state field values to TCI states to remove deactivated TCI states…); and activate the one or more transmission configuration indication states provided with the indication (see para. 0078, activated TCI states for the UE 120, para. 0090, the UE 120 may receive a MAC CE indicating an activation of a TCI state).
Regarding claim 9, Takeda discloses wherein the indication comprises an indication to combine the one or more transmission configuration indication states with the list of activated transmission configuration indication states (see para. 0090, the UE 120 may receive a MAC CE indicating an activation…the UE 120 may alter a table of mappings of TCI state field values to TCI states …to add activated TCI states).
Regarding claim 10, Takeda discloses wherein the indication comprises an indication to increment the list of activated transmission configuration indication states with the one or more transmission configuration indication states (see para. 0090, the UE 120 may receive a MAC CE indicating an activation…the UE 120 may alter a table of mappings of TCI state field values to TCI states …to add activated TCI states).
Regarding claim 12, Takeda discloses wherein the indication comprises an indication of a starting codepoint value for adding the one or more transmission configuration indication states to the list of activated transmission configuration indication states (see Fig. 6E, 6F, para. 0096, the UE 120 may be configured with a mapping between active TCI states and codepoints. For example, the UE 120 may be configured such that a first TCI field value “0000”, as shown in FIG. 6E, maps to a first active TCI state for each of a set of co-scheduled cells… the UE 120 may map an integer value of an nth entry in a TCI state list (TCI-stateListDCI-1-X-r18) to an nth codepoint value).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan and Sun, and have the features, as taught by Takeda, in order to use NR to better support mobile broadband internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, and improving services, as discussed by Takeda (para. 0004).
Claims 15 – 17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0179587; hereinafter Yuan) in view of Bai et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0106376; hereinafter Bai).
Regarding claim 15, Yuan discloses an apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus (see Fig. 6, para. 0104 – 0105, 0109, communication apparatus 600 includes a processor 610 with a memory 630 configured to store instructions executed by the processor 610) at least to: transmit, to a user equipment, an indication to activate one or more transmission configuration indication states associated with at least one of: a source cell, or at least one target cell (see abstract, para. 0006, 0008, …sends the first information to a terminal device, where the first information indicates to activate a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a candidate target cell).
Yuan does not disclose the claimed features of: regarding claim 15, transmit, to the user equipment, an indication of a codepoint value of a list of activated transmission configuration indication states.
Regarding claim 15, Bai discloses transmit, to the user equipment, an indication of a codepoint value of a list of activated transmission configuration indication states (see para. 0070, The active TCI state codepoint can refer to a list of TCI state identifiers that are activated from a list of previously configured TCI state information).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan, and have the features, as taught by Bai, in order to improve quality of communications by increasing signal strength at least as received at the UE, as discussed by Bai (para. 0024).
Regarding claim 16, Yuan discloses wherein the at least one memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit, to the at least one target cell, at least one message with respect to at least one transmission configuration indication state associated with the at least one target cell (see 0054, handover to a target serving cell, para. 0101, the first information indicates to activate the first TCI state of the target cell, in other words, the first information indicates a first beam of the target cell…or may be a beam used by the terminal device to send a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS)).
Regarding claim 17, Yuan discloses wherein the indication to activate the one or more transmission configuration indication states is transmitted via a medium access control control element (see abstract, para. 0011, where the first information indicates to activate a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a candidate target cell…and the first information is MAC CE signaling).
Yuan does not disclose the claimed features as recited in claims 19 and 20.
Regarding claim 19, Bai discloses wherein the codepoint value of the list of activated transmission configuration indication states is associated with a transmission configuration indication state that is configured to be used as an indicated beam for the at least one target cell (see Fig. 1, base station 102, para. 0060, the DCI can indicate a TCI state configured for the UE 104, which the UE 104 can use to determine the corresponding beam for receiving the multiple data transmissions to the base station 102 such as a target cell).
Regarding claim 20, Bai discloses wherein the codepoint value of the list of activated transmission configuration indication states is associated with a transmission configuration indication state that is configured to be used as an indicated beam for the source cell (see Fig. 1, base station 102, para. 0060, the DCI can indicate a TCI state configured for the UE 104, which the UE 104 can use to determine the corresponding beam for receiving the multiple data transmissions to the base station 102 such as a source cell).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan, and have the features, as taught by Bai, in order to improve quality of communications by increasing signal strength at least as received at the UE, as discussed by Bai (para. 0024).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0179587; hereinafter Yuan) in view of Bai et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0106376; hereinafter Bai) and further in view of Hwang et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0155445; hereinafter Hwang).
Yuan and Bai do not disclose the claimed features as recited in claim 18.
Regarding claim 18, Hwang discloses wherein the at least one memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit, to the user equipment, a lower layer triggered mobility configuration (see abstract, para. 0014 – 0015, receiving, from a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message including lower layer triggered mobility (LTM) configuration information).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yuan and Bai, and have the features, as taught by Hwang, in order to provide for beamforming and massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) for alleviating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, as discussed by Hwang (para. 0004).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 270-5139. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached on ((571) 272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473