Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of the information disclosure statement filed on December 14, 2023, and August 6, 2024. U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, and non-patent literature documents have been considered.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in paragraph [0022], there is a typographical error: “The terminal device may be a STAION. . .”, where this should be “STATION”. Additionally, in paragraphs [0086] and [00154], “COREST” is used as the acronym for “Control Resource Set”, when the common acronym in the industry is “CORESET”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 10 and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities: “COREST” is used as the acronym for “Control Resource Set”, when the common acronym in the industry is “CORESET”. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claims 1-3, 5-9, 11-13, and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Tsai et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2021/0029724), herein referred to as “Tsai”. This reference was provided in the Information Disclosure Statement dated August 6, 2024.
Regarding Claim 1,
Tsai discloses: A communication method, applicable to a terminal device, the method comprising: triggering, in response to a beam failure of a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP) being detected, a Scheduling Request (SR) for a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) of the TRP.
[0050] In some implementations, when a beam failure event is detected on an SCell(s), the UE 182 may trigger a BFR procedure for the SCell(s) and/or trigger a SR procedure for BFR.
[0315] In some implementations, a cell may be composed by one or multiple associated TRPs. For example, the coverage of a cell may be composed by coverage of all associated TRP(s). A cell may be controlled by a BS. A cell may refer to a TRP Group (TRPG).
Regarding Claim 2,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the terminal device, configuration information about the SR
[0213] In some implementations, each MAC entity of a UE may be configured with only one BFR-SR configuration that includes configuration parameter(s) for a BFR-SR procedure. The UE may perform a BFR-SR procedure based on the BFR-SR configuration.
[0214] In some implementations, the UE may be configured with only one PUCCH resource configuration for a BFR-SR transmission per BFR-SR configuration.
wherein the TRP comprises at least one of a first TRP or a second TRP, and the SR comprises at least one of a first SR or a second SR.
[0329] In some implementations, a BFR-SR may be transmitted in the BFR-SR transmission (e.g., action 1A illustrated in FIG. 1) of the BFRQ operation. The BFR-SR may be transmitted on a dedicated SR-like PUCCH resource for BFR. The BFR-SR may be used to inform the NW of a beam failure event and/or used for requesting for an UL-SCH resource for BFR report transmission. The UL resource required by a BFR-SR may (only) be used for BFR (report transmission). The UE may be configured with zero, one, or more BFR-SR configuration. The PUCCH resource for BFR-SR may be configured per BWP, per TRP, per CC, per set of CCs, per cell group (CG), and/or per UE. The PUCCH resource for BFR-SR may be configured on a PCell, a PSCell, and/or a (PUCCH) SCell. The BFR-SR may be transmitted on a PCell, a PSCell, and/or an SCell accordingly. In some implementations, the BFR-SR may be transmitted through a cross-cell transmission (e.g., the beam failure event happens on an SCell, and the BFR-SR corresponding to the beam failure event the is transmitted on a PCell). In some implementations, the BFR-SR configuration may be a specific configuration which is not one of the SR configurations (e.g., the ID of BFR-SR configuration is not shared with the parameter, schedulingRequestid.) In some implementations, the BFR-SR configuration may be one of the SR configurations (e.g., the ID of BFR-SR configuration is shared with the schedulingRequestid.) In some implementations, the BFR-SR may have the highest priority among all SR configurations configured to the UE. In some implementations, the BFR-SR configuration may be configured per BWP, per TRP, per CC, per set of CCs, per CG, and/or per UE.
Note: Since there are “one or more BFR-SR configurations”, these configurations are also “per TRP”, thus being indicative of more than one TRP.
Regarding Claim 3,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: before the triggering the SR, at least one of:
determining whether the TRP is associated with the SR;
determining whether there is an uplink resource sufficient to accommodate a BFR Media Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) for the TRP and a header; or
determining whether the BFR is canceled
[0052] In action 106, a Beam Failure Recovery reQuest (BFRQ) operation may be performed. During the BFRQ operation, the UE 182 may transmit a BFR-Scheduling Request (SR) over a PCell, a PSCell, and/or an SCell (denoted as action “1A” in FIG. 1). The BFR-Scheduling Request (BFR-SR) may be an SR for BFR (e.g., a specific SR indicated by an Information Element (IE) schedulingRequestID-BFR-SCell), which may be used to inform the BS 184 of a beam failure event detected on the SCell(s) and/or to request an UL resource (e.g., to transmit more information about the beam failure event). In some implementations, whether the UE 182 transmits the BFR-SR may depend on whether there is available UL resource(s) (for transmitting the BFR report). For example, the UE 182 may not transmit the BFR-SR if there is available UL resource(s) for the UE to use and/or if there is UL resource(s) that can be used for BFR report transmission (e.g., the UL resource(s) can accommodate the BFR report).
Note: If the BFR report cannot be accommodated in the UL resource, then the BFR would be determined to be canceled.
wherein the triggering the SR comprises selecting at least one Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource associated with the SR to transmit the SR.
[0286] In action 502, a UE may receive, from a BS, a first SR configuration indicating a first SR index associated with a first SR resource. For example, the first SR configuration may be a BFR-SR configuration. The first SR resource may be an UL resource (e.g., a PUCCH resource) for a BFR-SR transmission. In one implementation, the first SR index may be indicated by an IE schedulingRequestID-BFR-SCell.
Regarding Claim 5,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 2, wherein the first SR is associated with a first Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource and a second PUCCH resource, the first PUCCH resource corresponds to the first TRP, and the second PUCCH resource corresponds to the second TRP;
[0286] In action 502, a UE may receive, from a BS, a first SR configuration indicating a first SR index associated with a first SR resource. For example, the first SR configuration may be a BFR-SR configuration. The first SR resource may be an UL resource (e.g., a PUCCH resource) for a BFR-SR transmission. In one implementation, the first SR index may be indicated by an IE schedulingRequestID-BFR-SCell.
[0287] In action 504, the UE may receive, from the BS, a second SR configuration indicating a second SR index associated with a second SR resource. For example, the second SR configuration may be a regular SR configuration. The second SR resource may be an UL resource (e.g., PUCCH resource) for a regular SR transmission. The second SR index may be indicated by an IE schedulingRequestID.
wherein the method further comprises: in response to triggering the BFR by the first TRP or triggering the BFR by the second TRP, transmitting the first SR using the first PUCCH resource corresponding to the first TRP; or transmitting the second SR using the second PUCCH resource corresponding to the second TRP
[0289] In action 506, the UE may trigger a first SR procedure (e.g., a BFR-SR procedure) for a BFR procedure based on the first SR configuration. For example, the BFR procedure may be triggered by the UE when a beam failure event is detected by the UE on an SCell of the BS. In one implementation, the BFR procedure may be an SCell BFR procedure. In addition, the BFR procedure may not be an RA procedure for SpCell BFR. After triggering the BFR procedure, if the UE finds that it is not allocated with available UL resource(s) for a BFR report transmission, the UE may further trigger the first SR procedure to transmit a BFR-SR to request the BS for an available UL resource to transmit a BFR report of the BFR procedure.
wherein the SR is shared by a plurality of logical channels
[0100] In some implementations, if the UL resource (e.g., a PUCCH resource) for a BFR-SR transmission overlaps an (regular) SR transmission occasion, whether to transmit the BFR-SR or the SR may be dependent upon the priority of the LCH that triggers the SR. For example, if the SR transmission is triggered by an LCH with a high priority (e.g., the priority parameter configured for the LCH is lower than a threshold or has a specific priority value), the UE may prioritize the SR transmission over the BFR-SR transmission. If the SR transmission is triggered by an LCH with a low priority (e.g., the priority parameter configured for the LCH is higher than a threshold or has a specific priority value), the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR transmission over the SR transmission. In another example, if the SR transmission is on a PUCCH resource that belongs to a cell where the beam failure event is detected (e.g., a cell on which a BFR-SR procedure is triggered), and also an UL resource for the SR transmission overlaps the UL resource for a BFR-SR transmission, the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR transmission over the SR transmission. In some implementations, the priority may be configured by the NW in an LCH configuration (e.g., LogicalChannelConfig). In some implementations, an SR configuration may consist of a set of PUCCH resources for SR across different BWPs and cells. For an LCH or for (SCell) BFR. In some implementations, at most one PUCCH resource for SR is configured per BWP.
wherein the method further comprises: triggering, in response to a number of retransmissions of the SR exceeding a first threshold, a random access procedure
[0175] In some implementations, a UE may use an RA procedure for SpCell BFR to recover from a beam failure event detected on an SpCell, and use an SCell BFR procedure to recover from a beam failure event detected on an SCell(s). In certain cases, the RA procedure for SpCell BFR and the SCell BFR procedure for the SCell(s) may be performed by the UE individually. In addition, the beam failure event on the SpCell and the beam failure event on the SCell(s) may happen simultaneously (e.g., happen in the same symbol/slot/subframe/frame). In this case, for example, the RA procedure for SpCell BFR and the SCell BFR procedure may be initiated/triggered by the UE at the same time (e.g., in the same symbol/slot/subframe/frame). In another example, the UE may initiate/trigger the RA procedure for SpCell BFR, and then initiate/trigger the SCell BFR procedure when the RA procedure for SpCell BFR is ongoing. In another example, the UE may initiate/trigger the SCell BFR procedure, and then initiate/trigger the RA procedure for SpCell BFR when the SCell BFR procedure is ongoing. Based on the examples described above, the UE may need to determine whether to initiate/perform multiple BFR procedures simultaneously, and/or determine the priority of different BFR procedures.
[0184] In some implementations, detecting a beam failure event on the SpCell and a beam failure event on the SCell at the same time may refer to the case of a first Beam Failure Indication (BFI) counter (e.g., configured on the SpCell) used in the RA procedure for SpCell BFR reaching a first maximum number and, at the same time (e.g., in the same symbol/slot/subframe/frame), a second BFI counter (e.g., configured on an SCell/a group of SCells) used in the SCell BFR procedure reaching a second maximum number.
wherein in case that a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource of the SR for the BFR of the TRP is in conflict with a PUCCH resource of another SR, the PUCCH resource of the SR for the BFR of the TRP is preferentially transmitted.
[0100] In some implementations, if the UL resource (e.g., a PUCCH resource) for a BFR-SR transmission overlaps an (regular) SR transmission occasion, whether to transmit the BFR-SR or the SR may be dependent upon the priority of the LCH that triggers the SR. For example, if the SR transmission is triggered by an LCH with a high priority (e.g., the priority parameter configured for the LCH is lower than a threshold or has a specific priority value), the UE may prioritize the SR transmission over the BFR-SR transmission. If the SR transmission is triggered by an LCH with a low priority (e.g., the priority parameter configured for the LCH is higher than a threshold or has a specific priority value), the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR transmission over the SR transmission. In another example, if the SR transmission is on a PUCCH resource that belongs to a cell where the beam failure event is detected (e.g., a cell on which a BFR-SR procedure is triggered), and also an UL resource for the SR transmission overlaps the UL resource for a BFR-SR transmission, the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR transmission over the SR transmission. In some implementations, the priority may be configured by the NW in an LCH configuration (e.g., LogicalChannelConfig). In some implementations, an SR configuration may consist of a set of PUCCH resources for SR across different BWPs and cells. For an LCH or for (SCell) BFR. In some implementations, at most one PUCCH resource for SR is configured per BWP.
Regarding Claim 6,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: in case that a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource of the SR for the BFR of the TRP is in conflict with a PUCCH resource of a SR for a BFR of a secondary cell (SCell), determining whether the PUCCH resource of the SR for the BFR of the TRP or the PUCCH resource of the SR for the BFR of the SCell is preferentially transmitted based on an implementation of the terminal device.
[0100] In some implementations, if the UL resource (e.g., a PUCCH resource) for a BFR-SR transmission overlaps an (regular) SR transmission occasion, whether to transmit the BFR-SR or the SR may be dependent upon the priority of the LCH that triggers the SR. For example, if the SR transmission is triggered by an LCH with a high priority (e.g., the priority parameter configured for the LCH is lower than a threshold or has a specific priority value), the UE may prioritize the SR transmission over the BFR-SR transmission. If the SR transmission is triggered by an LCH with a low priority (e.g., the priority parameter configured for the LCH is higher than a threshold or has a specific priority value), the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR transmission over the SR transmission. In another example, if the SR transmission is on a PUCCH resource that belongs to a cell where the beam failure event is detected (e.g., a cell on which a BFR-SR procedure is triggered), and also an UL resource for the SR transmission overlaps the UL resource for a BFR-SR transmission, the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR transmission over the SR transmission. In some implementations, the priority may be configured by the NW in an LCH configuration (e.g., LogicalChannelConfig). In some implementations, an SR configuration may consist of a set of PUCCH resources for SR across different BWPs and cells. For an LCH or for (SCell) BFR. In some implementations, at most one PUCCH resource for SR is configured per BWP.
Regarding Claim 7,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 3, wherein the BFR MAC CE for the TRP is used for reporting information about the beam failure of the TRP to a network side.
[0059] On the other hand, the purpose of BFR-SR transmission may include informing the NW that beam failure happens on a serving cell(s) (e.g., a beam failure event is detected on the serving cell(s)), and/or to request a (specific) UL resource for transmitting a BFR report (e.g., a MAC CE). When beam failure occurs on the serving cell(s), the UE may not perform DL and/or UL transmission successfully on the serving cell(s) due to the radio link problem. For example, the UE may not receive any scheduling (e.g., from a PDCCH) on the serving cell(s). Also, the misalignment of the beam pair link between the NW and the UE may result in some negative impacts (e.g., transmission failure, bad resource efficiency, unnecessary power consumption, etc.). Thus, beam failure recovery may be urgent and critical compared to other transmissions. In this sense, in some implementations of the present disclosure, the UE may prioritize the BFR-SR resource (or an “SR resource for BFR”) for a BFR-SR transmission over some other UL resources (e.g., a PUSCH for data transmission and/or a PUCCH for (normal) SR transmission), if the BFR-SR resource (occasion) for transmission collides with the other UL resources in the time domain.
Regarding Claim 8,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein in response to a transmitted Medium Access Control Packet Data Unit (MAC PDU) comprising beam failure information of the TRP for triggering the SR, the SR for the BFR of the TRP is canceled.
[0300] In some implementations, the UE may stop the prohibit timer when the first SR procedure is cancelled by the UE or when a MAC PDU that includes a BFR MAC CE is transmitted from the UE to the BS (e.g., the UE has transmitted a BFR report including the BFR MAC CE to the BS).
Regarding Claim 9,
Tsai discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: in response to an uplink resource currently available being used for transmitting beam failure information of the TRP for triggering the SR, at least one of canceling the SR for the BFR of the TRP or canceling a random access procedure for the BFR of the TRP, or the method further comprises: in response to a cell corresponding to the TRP being deactivated or a Radio Link Failure (RLF) occurring in the cell, cancelling the SR for the BFR of the TRP.
[0328] In some implementations, an (regular) SR (e.g., used in a regular SR procedure) may be used for requesting UL-SCH resource (e.g., PUSCH resource) for a new transmission. The UE may be configured with zero, one, or more SR configurations. An SR configuration may include a set of PUCCH resources for SR across different BWPs and cells. For an LCH, at most one PUCCH resource for SR may be configured per BWP. Each SR configuration may correspond to one or more LCHs. Each LCH may be mapped to zero or one SR configuration. The SR configuration of the LCH that triggered the BSR (if such a configuration exists) is considered as corresponding SR configuration for the triggered SR. When an SR procedure (e.g., a regular SR procedure or a BFR-SR procedure) is triggered, it may be considered as pending until it is cancelled.
Regarding Claim 11,
Tsai discloses: A terminal device, comprising: a processor configured to trigger, in response to a beam failure of a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP) being detected, a Scheduling Request (SR) for a Beam Failure Recovery (BFR) of a TRP.
[0050] In some implementations, when a beam failure event is detected on an SCell(s), the UE 182 may trigger a BFR procedure for the SCell(s) and/or trigger a SR procedure for BFR.
[0315] In some implementations, a cell may be composed by one or multiple associated TRPs. For example, the coverage of a cell may be composed by coverage of all associated TRP(s). A cell may be controlled by a BS. A cell may refer to a TRP Group (TRPG).
Regarding Claim 12,
Claim 12 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Regarding Claim 13,
Claim 13 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Regarding Claim 15,
Claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 5.
Regarding Claim 16,
Claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 6.
Regarding Claim 17,
Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Regarding Claim 18,
Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 8.
Regarding Claim 19,
Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 9.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of Agiwal et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2021/0013949), herein referred to as “Agiwal.” This reference was provided in the Information Disclosure Statement dated August 6, 2024.
Regarding Claim 4,
Tsai does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 4.
However, Agiwal discloses: The method of claim 2, further comprising: in case that the first TRP is associated with the first SR and the second TRP is associated with the second SR, in response to triggering the BFR by the first TRP or triggering the BFR by the second TRP, triggering the first SR; or triggering the second SR, wherein the first SR is associated with a first Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource.
[0013] For a logical channel, at most one PUCCH resource for SR is configured per BWP. Each SR configuration corresponds to one or more logical channels. Each logical channel may be mapped to zero or one SR configuration, which is configured by RRC.
[0070] If there are multiple SR(s) pending, all pending SR(s) except the SR triggered for BFR (or for BFR request (BFRQ) or for BFR/BFRQ of secondary cell (SCell)), triggered prior to the MAC PDU assembly are cancelled and each respective sr-ProhibitTimer are stopped when the MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes a long or short BSR MAC CE which contains buffer status up to (and including) the last event that triggered a BSR prior to the MAC PDU assembly.
Tsai in view of Agiwal are considered to be analogous because they pertain to wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to include the concept of triggering the BFR in response to triggering the BFR by a TRP as taught by Agiwal so as to promote effective communications in a wireless network.
Regarding Claim 14,
Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 4.
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of Wu et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2024/0340068), herein referred to as “Wu.”
Regarding Claim 10,
Tsai does not explicitly disclose all the limitations of Claim 10.
However, Wu discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the TRP is indicated by:
an identifier of a Control Resource Set (COREST); or an identifier of a COREST pool; or
an identifier of a reference signal set
[0109] (1) Step 1: A UE accesses a network. A serving cell of the UE is a SCell (or a SpCell). [0110] (2) Step 2: The network, e.g., a PCell, transmits the configuration to the UE. [0111] One TRP or two TRPs for the serving cell are configured, e.g., TRP #0 and TRP #1 as shown in FIG. 1. [0112] A BFD-RS set is configured for each TRP. Each TRP is associated with a BFD-RS set. For example, BFD-RS set #0 is associated with TRP #0, and BFD-RS set #1 is associated with TRP #1. [0113] Independent configuration of a new beam identification RS (NBI-RS) set is per TRP if a NBI-RS set per TRP is configured, e.g., NBI-RS set #0 and NBI-RS set #1. [0114] A combination of BFD counter #0 and timer #0 in the MAC layer is configured for TRP #0. A combination of BFD counter #1 and timer #1 in the MAC layer is configured for TRP #1. [0115] One TRP may be described as one CORESET pool. For example, CORESET pool #0 is TRP #0.
wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, whether the beam failure occurs at the TRP based on a beam failure indication reported from a lower layer
[0116] (3) Step 3: The UE receives the configuration from the network, e.g., the PCell. [0117] (4) Step 4: If a beam failure instance indication associated with TRP #0 has been received by the UE from lower layers, the MAC entity of the UE shall for each serving cell starts or restarts the timer for a beam failure detection (BFD) procedure associated with TRP #0, with an increment of COUNTER associated with TRP #0 by 1.
wherein determining, by the terminal device, whether the beam failure occurs at the TRP comprises: in response to a beam failure instance on the TRP reaching a second threshold during an operation of a beam failure detection timer, determining that the beam failure occurs at the TRP.
[0118] COUNTER (per TRP) is a counter for the beam failure instance indication which is initially set to 0. [0119] (5) Step 5: If COUNTER for TRP #0>=the Maximum Count for the beam failure instance indication and if the serving cell is the SCell, the UE triggers a BFR procedure for this TRP and transmits a BFR request, e.g., in a TRP based BFR MAC CE. [0120] Regarding a TRP based BFR MAC CE and the UE's corresponding behavior, the UE may adopt any of following Options 1-5 in different cases.
Note: The “counter” here is being interpreted as the timer and the threshold (>= Maximum Count), as there are is a counter per TRP, thereby making it possible for a second threshold.
Tsai in view of Wu are considered to be analogous because they pertain to wireless communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tsai to include the concept of determining a beam failure indication at a lower layer and during operation of a timer as taught by Wu so as to promote effective communications in a wireless network.
Regarding Claim 20,
Claim 20 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE P. SAMLUK whose telephone number is (571)270-5607. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/JESSE P. SAMLUK/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411