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 .
Response to Arguments
This Office action is considered fully responsive to the amendments filed 07/16/2026.
The previous U.S.C. 112(b) rejection to claim 24 is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/16/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant alleges that the claim language of previously indicated allowable claim 7 has been incorporated into the independent claims, which renders the claims allowable.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Claim 7 as filed on 08/17/2023 recites: “The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation comprises beam failure detection (BFD), beam failure recovery (BFR), link monitoring, physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring/detection.”
The amendment recites “wherein the first operation comprises beam failure detection (BFD), beam failure recovery (BFR), link monitoring, or physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring/detection.”
Examiner notes Applicant has amended the claims to include the term “or” which was not present in previously presented claim 7. The amended independent claims require only one of the list of first operation to be present. Claim 7 did not recite “or” and therefore required all of the list of first operation to be present.
The amendment to the independent claims therefore changes the scope of invention. Accordingly, Examiner has applied new prior art in light of the amendments.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 9, 11-14, 16, 17-18, 20-26, 28-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2021/0006372 A1 to CHA et al. (“Cha”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0031056 A1 to Rastegardoost et al. (“Rastegardoost”).
As to claims 1-2, 11, 17 see similar rejections to claims 23-24, 28, 29 respectively. The apparatus teaches the methods.
As to claim 3, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising: resetting or restarting the first operation after receiving the first indicator (Cha, para. 0147, for each CSI-RS resource setting, the UE transmits CSI reporting (i.e. this reporting occurs repeatedly) indicated by CSI-ReportConfigs associated with the CSI-RS resource setting to the BS.). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 4, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 2 (see rejection to claim 2), wherein the first mode is set to be a default mode if the first indicator is not received (Examiner notes: this instance of “if” is a conditional limitation, which is not required for the invention to function, and therefore the limitations are not given patentable weight in a method claim; see MPEP 2111.04). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 9, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first set of resource is associated with a first mode or more than one modes (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI-RS resource set list may include at least one of an NZP CSI-RS resource set list, a CSI-IM resource set list, or a CSI-SSB resource set list.). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 12, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second set of resource comprising at least one resource (Cha, para. 0113, CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set, i.e. any of these being a second set), wherein the second set of resource is configured via the configuration (Cha, para. 0109, RRC signaling); and performing a second operation, wherein the second operation is related to the second set of resource (Cha, para. 0147, for each CSI-RS resource setting, the UE transmits CSI reporting). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 13, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the second set of resource is associated with a second mode or more than one modes (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information may be expressed as a CSI-ResourceConfig information element (IE)). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 14, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving a second indicator (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information may be expressed as a CSI-ResourceConfig information element (IE), i.e. “second” being a numbering convention, not necessarily different than the first), wherein the second indicator comprises a second mode (para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set.). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 16, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the second operation is performed according to a second set of threshold, wherein the second set of threshold is related to a second mode (Cha, para. 0145-0147, Regarding a CQI, PMI, CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), SS/PBCH block resource indicator (SSBRI), layer indicator (LI), RI, or L1-RSRP, the UE receives RRC signaling including N(≥1) [i.e. threshold] CSI-ReportConfig reporting settings [i.e. mode], M(≥1) [i.e. threshold] CSI-ResourceConfig resource settings [i.e. mode]….or each CSI-RS resource setting, the UE transmits CSI reporting (i.e. first operation) indicated by CSI-ReportConfigs associated with the CSI-RS resource setting to the BS; i.e. “second” being a numbering convention, not necessarily different from the first). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 18, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the first mode is derived by a first indication wherein the first indication comprises a first search space configuration, a first search space set index, a first CORESET ID, a first TCI state, or a first spatial adaptation pattern (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set; para. 0378, the SS/PBCH block, CSI-RS, and/or PRS corresponding to the configured or indicated ID or index may be configured or indicated as a spatial QCL reference for PRS resources, so that the UE may be aware of information about the direction of a Tx beam of the PRS transmitted ). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 20, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 12 (see rejection to claim 12), further comprising: performing the second operation according to a second search space set configuration, wherein the second search space set configuration comprises a second search space set index, a second CORESET ID, a second periodicity, a second offset, a second number of monitoring symbol(s), a second set of DCI format(s), a second set of aggregation level(s) for PDCCH monitoring, and a second set of candidate number per aggregation level for PDCCH monitoring (nrofCandidates), if the second operation is PDCCH monitoring/detection, wherein the second search space set configuration is related to a second mode (Examiner notes: this instance of “if” is a conditional limitation, which is not required for the invention to function, and therefore the limitations are not given patentable weight in a method claim; see MPEP 2111.04). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 21, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the second mode is derived by a second indication wherein the second indication comprises a second search space configuration, a second search space set index, a second CORESET ID , a second TCI state, or a second spatial adaptation pattern (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set; para. 0378, the SS/PBCH block, CSI-RS, and/or PRS corresponding to the configured or indicated ID or index may be configured or indicated as a spatial QCL reference for PRS resources, so that the UE may be aware of information about the direction of a Tx beam of the PRS transmitted; i.e. “second” being a numbering convention, not necessarily different from the first). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 22, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 12 (see rejection to claim 12), further comprising: performing the second operation according to a second CORESET configuration wherein the second CORESET configuration comprises a second CORESET ID, a second set of frequency domain resource, and a second TCI state if the second operation is PDCCH monitoring/detection, wherein the second CORESET configuration is related to a second mode (Examiner notes: this instance of “if” is a conditional limitation, which is not required for the invention to function, and therefore the limitations are not given patentable weight in a method claim; see MPEP 2111.04). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 23, Cha discloses an apparatus for a communication operation (fig. 8, para. 0109-0116, UE), the apparatus comprising: one or more receivers (fig. 30, transceiver(s)); one or more transmitters (fig. 30, transceiver(s)); a memory storing instructions (fig. 30, memory unit); and a processor (fig. 30, control unit…processor(s)) executing the instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to (para. 0445, in the embodiments according to the present specification, when the memory 94 is executed by at least one processor, such as the processor 93, the memory 94 allows the processor 93 to perform some or all of the processes controlled by the processor 93 of FIG. 32 or stores software code 95 including instructions for performing the embodiments described in this specification): receive a configuration, wherein the configuration comprises a resource setting (para. 0109-0112, the UE receives configuration information related to CSI from the BS through RRC signaling; The CSI related configuration information may include at least one of CSI-interference management (IM) resource related information; The CSI-IM resource related information may include CSI-IM resource information, CSI-IM resource set information); receive a first set of resource comprising at least one resource, wherein the first set of resource is configured via the configuration (para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information may be expressed as a CSI-ResourceConfig information element (IE). The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set. That is, the CSI resource configuration related information includes a CSI-RS resource set list. The CSI-RS resource set list may include at least one of an NZP CSI-RS resource set list, a CSI-IM resource set list, or a CSI-SSB resource set list. The CSI-RS resource set is identified by a CSI-RS resource set ID, and one resource set includes at least one CSI-RS resource. Each CSI-RS resource is identified by a CSI-RS resource ID.); and perform a first operation, wherein the first operation is related to the first set of resource (para. 0116-0117, (1) receiving a CSI-RS by the UE (S805) and (2) computing the CSI based on the received CSI-RS (S807). For the CSI-RS, RE mapping of CSI-RS resources is configured in time and frequency domains by an RRC parameter CSI-RS-ResourceMapping. The UE reports the measured CSI to the BS (S809)).
Cha does not expressly disclose wherein the first operation comprises beam failure detection (BFD), beam failure recovery (BFR), link monitoring, or physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring/detection.
Rastegardoost discloses at para. 0311: The configuration parameters in the RRC message may comprise second parameters indicating an initial DL BWP of the cell. The initial DL BWP may have a first bandwidth comprising a number of RBs. The first bandwidth may be larger than a maximum supported bandwidth of first-type UEs. The initial DL BWP may comprise one or more CORESETs. A CORESET may be associated with one or more search spaces (e.g., CSS). A search space may comprise periodic PDCCH monitoring occasions for receiving one or more DCIs. For example, a search space may be dedicated to first type UEs. For example, a search space may be common/shared between legacy UEs and first type UEs. For example, the second parameters may indicate for the search space: a search space ID, an ID of an associated CORESET, a periodicity and an offset for PDCCH monitoring slots, a duration of the search space (e.g., number of consecutive slots that a search space lasts in every occasion), monitoring symbols within a slot, a number of PDCCH candidates per aggregation level, a search space type (e.g., UE-specific or common), and one or more DCI formats associated with the search space. A DCI format may correspond to a size (e.g., bit length) of DCI. A wireless device may have to perform blind decoding in every PDCCH candidate/monitoring occasion of a search space for receiving DCI(s) corresponding to configured DCI formats. Further, para. 0152 discloses: The UE may estimate a downlink channel state and/or generate a CSI report based on the measuring of the one or more downlink CSI-RSs. The UE may provide the CSI report to the base station (i.e. wherein the first operation comprises beam failure detection (BFD), beam failure recovery (BFR), link monitoring, or physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring/detection).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the parameters as taught by Rastegardoost into the invention of Cha. The suggestion/motivation would have been to indicate a DL BWP (Rastegardoost, para. 0311). Including the parameters as taught by Rastegardoost into the invention of Cha was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Rastegardoost.
As to claim 24, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor further receives a first indicator (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information may be expressed as a CSI-ResourceConfig information element (IE)), wherein the first indicator comprises a first mode (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set.). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 25, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the apparatus of claim 24, wherein the first mode comprises a first indication of power value (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set), a first indication of power level (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set), a first indication of antenna port number, a first indication of antenna port subset, a first indication of antenna element number, a first indication of antenna element subset, a first Cell-ID, a first search space (SS) set index, a first control resource set (CORESET) identity (ID), a first search space configuration, or a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 26, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the apparatus of claim 24, wherein the first mode comprises a first spatial adaptation pattern, wherein the first spatial adaptation pattern comprises a first indication of power value (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set), a first indication of power level (para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set), a first indication of antenna port number, a first indication of antenna port subset, a first indication of antenna element number, a first indication of antenna element subset, a first Cell-ID, a first SS set index, a first CORESET ID, a first search space configuration, or a first TCI state. In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 28, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the first operation is performed according to a first set of threshold, wherein the first set of threshold is related to a first mode (Cha, para. 0145-0147, Regarding a CQI, PMI, CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), SS/PBCH block resource indicator (SSBRI), layer indicator (LI), RI, or L1-RSRP, the UE receives RRC signaling including N(≥1) [i.e. threshold] CSI-ReportConfig reporting settings [i.e. mode], M(≥1) [i.e. threshold] CSI-ResourceConfig resource settings [i.e. mode]….or each CSI-RS resource setting, the UE transmits CSI reporting (i.e. first operation) indicated by CSI-ReportConfigs associated with the CSI-RS resource setting to the BS). In addition, as the primary reference teaches the instant claim limitations, the same suggestion/motivation of the parent claim applies.
As to claim 29, Cha does not expressly disclose the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the apparatus further performs the first operation according to a first search space set configuration wherein the first search space set configuration comprises a first search space set index, a first CORESET ID, a first periodicity, a first offset, a first number of monitoring symbol(s), a first set of DCI format(s), a first set of aggregation level(s) for PDCCH monitoring, and a first set of candidate number per aggregation level for PDCCH monitoring (nrofCandidates), if the first operation is PDCCH monitoring/detection, wherein the first search space set configuration is related to a first mode.
Rastegardoost discloses at para. 0311: The configuration parameters in the RRC message may comprise second parameters indicating an initial DL BWP of the cell. The initial DL BWP may have a first bandwidth comprising a number of RBs. The first bandwidth may be larger than a maximum supported bandwidth of first-type UEs. The initial DL BWP may comprise one or more CORESETs. A CORESET may be associated with one or more search spaces (e.g., CSS). A search space may comprise periodic PDCCH monitoring occasions for receiving one or more DCIs. For example, a search space may be dedicated to first type UEs. For example, a search space may be common/shared between legacy UEs and first type UEs. For example, the second parameters may indicate for the search space: a search space ID, an ID of an associated CORESET, a periodicity and an offset for PDCCH monitoring slots, a duration of the search space (e.g., number of consecutive slots that a search space lasts in every occasion), monitoring symbols within a slot, a number of PDCCH candidates per aggregation level, a search space type (e.g., UE-specific or common), and one or more DCI formats associated with the search space. A DCI format may correspond to a size (e.g., bit length) of DCI. A wireless device may have to perform blind decoding in every PDCCH candidate/monitoring occasion of a search space for receiving DCI(s) corresponding to configured DCI formats. Further, para. 0152 discloses: The UE may estimate a downlink channel state and/or generate a CSI report based on the measuring of the one or more downlink CSI-RSs. The UE may provide the CSI report to the base station.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the parameters as taught by Rastegardoost into the invention of Cha. The suggestion/motivation would have been to indicate a DL BWP (Rastegardoost, para. 0311). Including the parameters as taught by Rastegardoost into the invention of Cha was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Rastegardoost.
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2021/0006372 A1 to CHA et al. (“Cha”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0031056 A1 to Rastegardoost et al. (“Rastegardoost”) and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 2023/0209538 A1 to Cirik et al. (“Cirik”) [provided by Applicant].
As to claim 5, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the first mode comprises a first indication of power value (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set), a first indication of power level (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set).
Cha and Rastegardoost does not expressly disclose a first indication of antenna port number, a first indication of antenna port subset, a first indication of antenna element number, a first indication of antenna element subset, a first Cell-ID, a first search space (SS) set index, a first control resource set (CORESET) identity (ID), a first search space configuration, and a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state.
Cirik at para. 0588, 0598, 0599 discloses the wireless device may monitor, via the CORESET, for PDCCH transmissions/receptions using/with a spatial domain reception/receiving filter that may be determined based on a reference signal indicated by the common/unified TCI state. DMRS antenna port(s) of the PDCCH transmissions/receptions may be quasi co-located with a reference signal indicated by the common/unified TCI state. One or more configuration parameters may indicate a plurality of search space set indexes/identifiers (e.g., provided by a higher layer parameter searchSpaceld) for the plurality of search space sets. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate the CORESET (and/or a CORESET index of the CORESET) for the search space set, and at paras. 0061, 0122, 0180, 0231: One or more base stations (e.g., the gNBs 160 and/or the ng eNBs 162) may comprise multiple sets of antennas to respectively control multiple cells (or sectors). A physical cell ID may be referred to as a carrier ID, and a cell index may be referred to as a carrier index. The base station may send/transmit, to the wireless device, one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. The configuration parameters may indicate an association between a search space set and a CORESET. A TCI state of the plurality of TCI states may indicate a reference signal for quasi-colocation of/for DM-RS (or DM-RS antenna port(s)) of the PDCCH transmissions/receptions.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the various elements as taught by Cirik
into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost. The suggestion/motivation would have been to increase efficiency (Cirik, para. 0004). Including the various elements as taught by Cirik into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Cirik.
As to claim 6, Cha and Rastegardoost further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the first mode comprises a first spatial adaptation pattern (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, a CSI-IM resource set, or a CSI-SSB resource set; para. 0378, the SS/PBCH block, CSI-RS, and/or PRS corresponding to the configured or indicated ID or index may be configured or indicated as a spatial QCL reference for PRS resources, so that the UE may be aware of information about the direction of a Tx beam of the PRS transmitted ), wherein the first spatial adaptation pattern comprises a first indication of power value (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set), a first indication of power level (Cha, para. 0113, The CSI resource configuration related information defines a group including at least one of a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set).
Cha and Rastegardoost does not expressly disclose a first indication of antenna port number, a first indication of antenna port subset, a first indication of antenna element number, a first indication of antenna element subset, a first Cell-ID, a first SS set index, a first CORESET ID, a first search space configuration, and a first TCI state.
Cirik at para. 0588, 0598, 0599 discloses the wireless device may monitor, via the CORESET, for PDCCH transmissions/receptions using/with a spatial domain reception/receiving filter that may be determined based on a reference signal indicated by the common/unified TCI state. DMRS antenna port(s) of the PDCCH transmissions/receptions may be quasi co-located with a reference signal indicated by the common/unified TCI state. One or more configuration parameters may indicate a plurality of search space set indexes/identifiers (e.g., provided by a higher layer parameter searchSpaceld) for the plurality of search space sets. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate the CORESET (and/or a CORESET index of the CORESET) for the search space set, and at paras. 0061, 0122, 0180, 0231: One or more base stations (e.g., the gNBs 160 and/or the ng eNBs 162) may comprise multiple sets of antennas to respectively control multiple cells (or sectors). A physical cell ID may be referred to as a carrier ID, and a cell index may be referred to as a carrier index. The base station may send/transmit, to the wireless device, one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. The configuration parameters may indicate an association between a search space set and a CORESET. A TCI state of the plurality of TCI states may indicate a reference signal for quasi-colocation of/for DM-RS (or DM-RS antenna port(s)) of the PDCCH transmissions/receptions.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the various elements as taught by Cirik
into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost. The suggestion/motivation would have been to increase efficiency (Cirik, para. 0004). Including the various elements as taught by Cirik into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Cirik.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2021/0006372 A1 to CHA et al. (“Cha”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0031056 A1 to Rastegardoost et al. (“Rastegardoost”) and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 2023/0309171 A1 to Zhou et al. (“Zhou”).
As to claim 8, Cha and Rastegardoost does not expressly disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the first set of resource comprises channel state information (CSI) - reference signal (RS) resource, non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource, CSI - interference measurement (IM) resource, synchronization signal (SS), physical broadcast channel (PBCH), BFD-RS, BFR-RS, radio link monitoring RS (RLM-RS), PDCCH, control channel element (CCE), and CORESET.
Zhou discloses at para. 0160, the CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating, for example, up to 32 antenna ports (or any other quantity of antenna ports). The wireless device may be configured to use/employ the same OFDM symbols for a downlink CSI-RS and a CORESET, for example, if the downlink CSI-RS and CORESET are spatially QCLed and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS are outside of the physical resource blocks (PRBs) configured for the CORESET. The wireless device may be configured to use/employ the same OFDM symbols for a downlink CSI-RS and SS/PBCH blocks, for example, if the downlink CSI-RS and SS/PBCH blocks are spatially QCLed and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS are outside of PRBs configured for the SS/PBCH blocks. At para. 0175, BFR, para. 0198, PDCCH, para. 0206, CCE, para. 0236, CSI-RS, CSI-IM, para. 0338, NZP, para. 0368, RLM-RS, para. 0383, BFD.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the various elements as taught by Zhou
into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost. The suggestion/motivation would have been to have signal transmission and reception based on measurements of signals (Zhou, para. 0002). Including the various elements as taught by Zhou into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Zhou.
Claim(s) 10, 15, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2021/0006372 A1 to CHA et al. (“Cha”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0031056 A1 to Rastegardoost et al. (“Rastegardoost”) and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 2023/0097142 A1 to Alfarhan et al. (“Alfarhan”).
As to claim 10, see similar rejection to claim 27. The apparatus teaches the method.
As to claim 15, Cha and Rastegardoost does not expressly disclose the method of claim 12, wherein the second operation is performed according to a second set of counter and a second set of timer, wherein the second set of counter and the second set of timer are related to a second mode.
Alfarhan discloses at para. 0252-0253: For example, the WTRU 102 may activate a certain CSI reporting pattern, after receiving an activation DCI for an associated DL SPS resource); (6) based on a timer and/or a counter (e.g., expiry of an inactivity time and/or elapsed time since applicable scheduling).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the activation as taught by Alfarhan
into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide reliable channel state information reporting (Alfarhan, para. 0002). Including the activation as taught by Alfarhan into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Alfarhan.
As to claim 27, Cha and Rastegardoost does not expressly disclose the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the first operation is performed according to a first set of counter and a first set of timer, wherein the first set of counter and the first set of timer are related to a first mode.
Alfarhan discloses at para. 0252-0253: For example, the WTRU 102 may activate a certain CSI reporting pattern, after receiving an activation DCI for an associated DL SPS resource); (6) based on a timer and/or a counter (e.g., expiry of an inactivity time and/or elapsed time since applicable scheduling).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the activation as taught by Alfarhan
into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide reliable channel state information reporting (Alfarhan, para. 0002). Including the activation as taught by Alfarhan into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Alfarhan.
Claim(s) 19, 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2021/0006372 A1 to CHA et al. (“Cha”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0031056 A1 to Rastegardoost et al. (“Rastegardoost”) and in further view of U.S. Publication No. 2024/0276519 A1 to LEE et al. (“Lee”).
As to claim 19, see similar rejection to claim 30. The apparatus teaches the method.
As to claim 30, Cha and Rastegardoost does not expressly disclose the apparatus of claim 23, wherein the apparatus further performs the first operation according to a first CORESET configuration wherein the first CORESET configuration comprises a first CORESET ID, a first set of frequency domain resource, and a first TCI state if the first operation is PDCCH monitoring/detection, wherein the first CORESET configuration is related to a first mode.
Lee discloses at para. 0132-0142: CORESET may be configured by RRC Signaling [0133] controlResourceSetId: indicates the ID of a CORESET. [0134] frequency DomainResources: indicates the frequency resources of the CORESET. The frequency resources of the CORESET are indicated by a bitmap in which each bit corresponds to an RBG (e.g., six (consecutive) RBs). For example, the most significant bit (MSB) of the bitmap corresponds to a first RBG. RBGs corresponding to bits set to 1 are allocated as the frequency resources of the CORESET. [0135] duration: indicates the time resources of the CORESET. Duration indicates the number of consecutive OFDM symbols included in the CORESET. Duration has a value of 1 to 3. [0136] cce-REG-MappingType: indicates a control channel element (CCE)-REG mapping type. Interleaved and non-interleaved types are supported. [0137] interleaverSize: indicates an interleaver size. [0138] pdcch-DMRS-ScramblingID: indicates a value used for PDCCH DMRS initialization. When pdcch-DMRS-ScramblingID is not included, the physical cell ID of a serving cell is used. . [0139] precoderGranularity: indicates a precoder granularity in the frequency domain. [0140] reg-BundleSize: indicates an REG bundle size. [0141] tci-PresentInDCI: indicates whether a transmission configuration index (TCI) field is included in DL-related DCI. [0142] tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList: indicates a subset of TCI states configured in pdcch-Config, used for providing quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships between DL RS(s) in an RS set (TCI-State) and PDCCH DMRS ports. Furthermore, at para. 0209: The UE receives an NZP CSI-RS resource set IE including a higher layer parameter ‘repetition’ from the gNB through RRC signaling (S610). Here, the repetition parameter is set to ‘ON’. The UE repeatedly receives resource(s) in a CSI-RS resource set in which the repetition parameter is set to ‘ON’ in different OFDM symbols through the same Tx beam (or DL spatial domain transmission filter) of the gNB (S620). Therethrough, the UE determines an Rx beam thereof (S630). Here, the UE performs no CSI report or transmits a CSI report including a CRI/L1-RSRP to the gNB (S640), i.e. the CSI report via RRC signaling is related to the configuration parameters.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the parameters as taught by Lee into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost. The suggestion/motivation would have been to have a method of efficiently performing wireless signal transmission/reception procedures and an apparatus therefor (Lee, para. 0005). Including the parameters as taught by Lee into the invention of Cha and Rastegardoost was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lee.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/OMAR J GHOWRWAL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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