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 .
Acknowledgment
This Office Action is responsive to the Amendment filed on 05/19/2026. Accordingly, claims 1-10 and 12-21 are pending in the instant application. The indicated allowability of claims 1-10 and 19-20 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to MolavanJazi et al (US 2020/0229104). Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
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.
Claims 1-10 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by MolavianJazi et al (US 2020/0229104; art cited by applicant).
Regarding independent claim 1, MolavianJazi teaches a method for user equipment in a wireless network comprising: detecting a triggering of a plurality of pathloss references from a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) between activation of successive power headroom reporting instances ([0045]-[0047] and [0066]-[0082]); tracking a power headroom concurrently for the plurality of TRPs during multiple transmission reception point (mTRP) operation to enable power headroom reporting for each respective TRP ([0045]-[0047] and [0066]-[0082]); tracking power headroom concurrently for each TRP of the plurality of TRPs in use during mTRP operation upon detection of the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references ([0074]-[0077]); and providing a power headroom determination and a power headroom report to each of the plurality of TRPs in use during mTRP operation based on the triggered plurality of pathloss references ([0078]).
Regarding independent claim 19, the claim recites similar subject matter as in claim 1. Therefore, similar rationale is applied as for claim 1. See also [0050]-[0053] for uplink signaling.
Regarding dependent claim 2, MolavianJazi further teaches wherein the detecting the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references from the plurality of TRPs further comprises: measuring a plurality of pathloss variations with respect to the plurality of pathloss references for each of the plurality of TRPs. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 3, MolavianJazi further teaches wherein the detecting the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references from the plurality of TRPs further comprises: measuring the plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer within the user equipment. See [0077].
Regarding dependent claim 4, MolavianJazi further teaches wherein the detecting the triggering of the plurality of pathloss references from the plurality of TRPs further comprises: measuring the plurality of pathloss variations using a separate power headroom timer configuration for each pathloss reference set. See [0077].
Regarding dependent claim 5, MolavianJazi further teaches identifying activation information that triggers the plurality of pathloss references associated with each of the respective transmission-reception points (TRPs); and concurrently tracking the power headroom of the plurality of TRPs based on the respective pathloss references for each TRP. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 6, MolavianJazi further teaches maintaining separate and simultaneous closed-loop power control loops for each of the plurality of TRPs using the respective pathloss references. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 7, MolavianJazi further teaches wherein the closed-loop power control loops include at least one of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) control loop, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a sending reference signal (SRS) control loop. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 8, MolavianJazi further teaches wherein the plurality of pathloss references are used to generate the power headroom report. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 9, MolavianJazi further teaches activating the power headroom determination via a power headroom timer within the user equipment, the activating based on the triggered plurality of pathloss references. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 10, MolavianJazi further teaches transmitting uplink signals to the plurality of TRPs based on the tracked power headroom. See [0066]-[0082].
Regarding dependent claim 20, MolavianJazi further teaches receiving the power headroom report from the user equipment when the user equipment measures a plurality of pathloss variations using a single power headroom timer configuration. See [0066]-[0082].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-18 are allowed over prior art of record.
Claim 21 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
Examiner's note: Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References Zhang et al (US 2011/0243016) and Kim et al (US 2012/0113818) are cited because they are pertinent to the method and apparatus for power headroom reporting. However, none of the cited references teaches or suggests the further arrangements as recited in the dependent claims 21 and the amended independent claim 12 and further limitations of its dependent claims 13-18.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DON NGUYEN VO whose telephone number is (571) 272-3018. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 6:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth N Vanderpuye, can be reached on 571-272-3078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DON N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634
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