DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority as a 371 of PCT/US2022/071540 filed 4/5/2022 and Provisional Application 63/170798 filed 4/5/2021 is acknowledged.
Preliminary Amendment filed 10/4/2023 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-16 have been cancelled.
Claims 17-36 have been newly added and remain pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/4/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 17, 18, 21-27, and 30-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhou et al. (US20240015717A1), hereafter Zhou.
Regarding claims 17, 26, and 35,
Zhou discloses a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) system (Fig. 7, 700-702; paragraph 101) comprising a transceiver (Fig. 7, transceiver 722), one or more processors (Fig. 7, processors 704-706), and memory coupled with the one or more processors storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors (paragraph 101) cause the one or more processors to effectuate operations of a method comprising to receive a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), wherein the MAC CE indicates an activation of a plurality of Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states for a TCI codepoint (Fig. 4, paragraph 61; MAC-CE activating joint DL/UL TCI states mapped to TCI codepoint) and to receive a first Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission (i.e. DCI conveyed via PDCCH) comprising the TCI codepoint (paragraphs 62-63; 1st DCI-based scheduling based on multiple sets of joint TCI states activated by MAC-CE).
Zhou further shows receiving a second PDCCH transmission using first TCI states of the plurality of activated TCI states (paragraph 63; 2nd DCI applied to joint TCI states), wherein the second PDCCH transmission includes information for scheduling a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmission or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission (paragraphs 61-64 describe various examples of joint TCI state activation for PUCCH/PUSCH/PDSCH/PDCCH) with multiple transmission occasions (paragraph 65; multi-TRP where different DCIs schedule communication with different TRPs) and to transmit, by using second TCI states of the plurality of activated TCI states, the PUCCH transmission or the PUSCH transmission on the multiple transmission occasions, wherein different TCI states of the second TCI states are used in different transmission occasions of the multiple transmission occasions (paragraphs 65-67; DL- and UL-only TCI state scheme via multi-TRP DCI scheduling).
Regarding claims 18, 27, and 36,
Zhou discloses the first TCI states comprise a plurality of downlink (DL) TCI states (paragraph 66) and the second TCI states comprise a plurality of uplink (UL) TCI states (paragraph 67).
Regarding claims 21, 22, 30, and 31,
Zhou discloses the MAC CE comprises a TCI state identification field for the TCI codepoint and a number of Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state identifiers for activation (Fig. 4; paragraph 61; BWP ID indicates the BWP for which the MAC CE applies as the codepoint and multiple TCI state ID fields).
Regarding claims 23 and 32,
Zhou discloses the PDCCH transmission comprises Downlink Control Information (DCI) and the DCI comprises an indication of the TCI codepoint (paragraphs 61-65; see above rejections of claims 17 and 26).
Regarding claims 24 and 33,
Zhou discloses the activated TCI states are activated based on a TCI activation timeline (paragraphs 40-42, 62, 75; TDM/TDD, timeslots/timing offset).
Regarding claims 25 and 34,
Zhou discloses first PDCCH transmission is received before one or more of the plurality of TCI states are activated (Fig. 5, steps 506-512 before step 514-516; enabling a beam indication scheme before applying that beam indication scheme to activate TCI state for UL/DL beam communication).
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 19, 20, 28, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Jang et al. (US20230006727A1), hereafter Jang.
Regarding claims 19 and 28,
Zhou discloses first PDCCH transmission is received before one or more of the plurality of TCI states are activated, as shown above with respect to claims 25 and 34 (Fig. 5, steps 506-512 before step 514-516; enabling a beam indication scheme before applying that beam indication scheme to activate TCI state for UL/DL beam communication) but does not expressly disclose a TCI state of the plurality of TCI states is used at an activation time.
Jang discloses analogous art (paragraph 227; TCI state activation via MAC CE) including a TCI state of the plurality of TCI states used at an activation time (i.e. that is signaled in advance; Fig. 6; paragraph 77-79).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Zhou by applying a TCI state of the plurality of TCI states is used at an activation time, as shown by Jang, thereby providing preconfigured mapping of activation of plural BWPs and their corresponding TCI state.
Regarding claims 20 and 29,
Zhou discloses the plurality of TCI states for the TCI codepoint are associated with a control resource set (CORESET) (paragraph 45) but fails to expressly disclose a CORESET pool index value where the first PDCCH transmission is received on a CORESET associated with the CORESET pool index value.
Jang discloses analogous art (paragraph 227; TCI state activation via MAC CE) including a CORESET pool index value where the first PDCCH transmission is received on a CORESET associated with the CORESET pool index value (paragraphs 206, 211, 223-232; use of CORESET poolindex value corresponding to TCI states).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to modify Zhou by utilizing a CORESET pool index value where the first PDCCH transmission is received on a CORESET associated with the CORESET pool index value, as shown by Jang, thereby enabling efficient beam failure recovery.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/GREGORY B SEFCHECK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477