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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application is a National Stage entry of PCT/JP2022/015544 (international filing date: 03/29/2022) which claims foreign priority to application of JAPAN: 2021-089352 (filed 05/27/2021).
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/23/2026 has been entered.
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 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (2) as being anticipated by CHIN et al. (US 20210028849 A1, hereinafter CHIN).
Regarding claim 7,
CHIN teaches a terminal comprising (in general, see fig. 3 and many of its corresponding paragraphs):
a receiver that receives information configuring a plurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for a same scheduling request (SR) for transmission/reception point (TRP)-specific beam failure detection (BFD) (CHIN, see at least para. 41 along with para. 50, “...When there is at least one triggered and uncancelled SR procedure (from at least one cell that has detected beam failure), the UE may transmit a BFR-SR on a dedicated PUCCH resource for BFR-SR transmission. In one implementation, a “triggered SR procedure” may also be referred to as a “triggered SR for SCell BFR”. In one implementation, a PUCCH resource for BFR-SR transmission may be configured by the network via dedicated signaling...”, note that para. 50 discloses that BFR-SR configuration may be configured per TRP);
and
a processor that, in response to the SR for TRP-specific BFD being triggered for an other purpose, controls to select and apply one PUCCH resource of the plurality of PUCCH resources for the other purpose (CHIN, see at least para. 49-50, for one non-limiting example, “...The UE may send a BFR-SR over PCell, PSCell, and/or SCell to the BS (e.g., action 305). The BFR-SR may be used to inform a beam failure event on an CC (s) and/or to request a UL resource. It is noted that whether the BFR-SR should be sent may be based on if any UL resource is available. If no UL resource is available, the BS may send a UL grant to the UE (e.g., action 306) upon reception of the BFR-SR from the UE (e.g., action 305)...”, in other words, “...The BFR-SR may be transmitted on a dedicated PUCCH resource for BFR-SR transmission. The BFR-SR may be used to inform the BS with a beam failure event and/or used for requesting a UL-SCH resource for BFR report transmission...”).
Regarding claim 8, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 7 except this claim is in method claim format.
Regarding claim 9, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 7. To be more specific, although reciting subject matters slightly different, one skilled in the art would have known claim 9 performs reverse (or corresponding) procedures of claim 7. For example, it would be a base station of claim 9 that performs the reverse (or corresponding) receiving from and transmitting to the terminal of claim 7. Hence, the examiner applies the same rejection reasoning as set forth in claim 7.
Regarding claim 10, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as combination of claims 7 and 9, except this claim is in system claim format.
To be more specific, CHIN also teaches a same or similar system comprising terminal and base station (CHIN, see at least of fig. 3), which are well known in the art and commonly used for providing and enabling robust and reliable data communication hardware and software.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/22/2026 have been fully considered. Regarding independent claims 7, 8, 9, and 10, since applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action, previous Office action's rejections are moot.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEE F LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7577. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YEE F LAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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