DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 20 Apr 2026 has been entered.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application that was filed on 10 May 2021.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements, submitted on 2 Nov 2023, 1 Aug 2024, 9 Jan 2025, 13 May 2025, and 27 Aug 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
The Reply alleges the combination of Zhang and Matsumura “still fails to disclose obtaining two measurement results for the same coordination cell through two distinct methods.” Reply, 14. The Reply also notes that “the ‘measurement result’ in Zhang and Matsumura are different.” Reply, 13. If the measurement results in Zhang and Matsumura are different, as found by the Reply, then the combination of Zhang and Matsumura teaches at least two measurement results based on two distinct methods, as required by the Reply’s interpretation of the claimed invention. Additionally, both Zhang and Matsumura measure a neighboring cell. As a result, they both measure “the same coordination cell,” as required by the claimed invention.
Further it is unclear just how “distinct” the methods used in obtaining each claimed measurement result are within the described invention. Reply, 14. The disclosure notes that “the first beam measurement is obtained according to the second beam measurement result and the first transmission power.” Spec., ¶7 (emphasis added). As a result, the method used to create the first beam measurement result is related to the method used to create the second measurement result because the first measurement result relies on the second measurement result. A discussion in the Rule 111 reply on what constitutes the distinction within the disclosed invention may be helpful (i.e. what gets measured to create the first result compared to what gets measured to create the second result).
Regarding the most recent claim amendments, the Reply notes that the Examiner did not allege Zhang taught “each group in the at least one group corresponds to a control resource set pool index.” Reply, 14. The Reply is correct that Zhang was not cited in the obviousness rejections as teaching a CORESETPoolIndex. Instead, the obviousness rejection relied upon the PCIs as identifier of candidate cells. Final Act., 9 (citing Zhang, ¶98). However, the Final Rejection did identify the CORESET pool index of Zhang. Final Act., 3 (citing Zhang, ¶54). The question then becomes would one skilled in the art be motivated to use a CORESETPoolIndex instead of a PCI for identifying a cell. In Zhang, a “CORESETPoolIndex or physical cell ID can be associated with the beam indication signaling.” Zhang, ¶52 (emphasis added). The UE “assume[s] signals with different CORESETPoolIndex or physical cell ID are from different TRPs/cells.” Ibid. In other words, Zhang teaches a CORESETPoolIndex as an alternative to a PCI for identifying a TRP or cell. As a result, one skilled in the art would be motivated to use a CORESETPoolIndex to identify a candidate cell in the group of cells/TRPs. See e.g. Matsumura, ¶114 (CORESET pool interchangeable with TRP-ID); NPL by ZTE, cited on IDS, received 9 Jan 2025, at pg. 8 (“using CORESETPoolIndex as ‘TRP-ID’ directly has less spec impact”), and NPL by Nokia, cited on IDS, received 13 May 2025, at pg. 7 (“CORESET(s) under the same CORESETPoolIndex are associated with a non-serving cell”).
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 1, 3, 6-9, 11, 14, 15, 19, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20220304036) in view of Matsumura (US 20240171243).
Regarding claims 1 and 22, Zhang teaches a coordination cell beam measurement method, performed by a user equipment (UE), and a communication device, comprising a transceiver, a memory, and a processor configured to perform the method comprising:
receiving indication information sent by a network device (Zhang, ¶88 – serving cell’s gNB sends indication of candidate cell pool to UE),
wherein the indication information comprises a first transmission power of a coordination cell (Zhang, ¶89 – the indication may include the transmission powers of candidate cells);
performing a beam measurement on the coordination cell (Zhang, ¶99 – gNB configures the neighboring cells’ reference signal in a channel measurement resource, CMR; Zhang, ¶92 – UE reports L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR of neighboring cells when executing group-based beam reporting);
determining a beam measurement reference signal resource of the coordination cell (Zhang, ¶99 – gNB configures the neighboring cells’ reference signal in a channel measurement resource, CMR), and
obtaining a second beam measurement result of the coordination cell according to the beam measurement reference signal resource of the coordination cell (Zhang, ¶92 - UE reports L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR of neighboring cells when executing group-based beam reporting [type-2 group-based beam reporting enables the UE to measure multiple downlink beams of the gNB, resulting in multiple measurements of the same cell]);
sending a beam measurement result to the network device, wherein the beam measurement result comprises at least one of: the first beam measurement result; or the second beam measurement result (Zhang, ¶92 and figure 7 – CSI report from UE includes the L1-RSRP values of serving cell and neighbor cells);
wherein the beam measurement result further comprises a beam measurement result of a serving cell (Zhang, ¶92 - UE reports L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR of serving cell),
wherein the beam measurement result is reported by at least one group (Zhang, ¶¶97-98 for measurement reporting, a group of N candidate cells are configured by the serving cell’s RRC signal), and
While the cited embodiment of Zhang reports measurements of the neighboring cell (Zhang, ¶92), it does not explicitly teach (1) “obtaining a first beam measurement result of the coordination cell according to the first transmission power” or (2) “wherein each group in the at least one group corresponds to a control resource pool index (CORESETPoolIndex).” However, regarding (2), a different embodiment of Zhang uses a CORESETPoolIndex as an alternative to PCI for identifying a cell or TRP. Zhang, ¶¶52-54 (CORESETPoolIndex used to identify a cell or TRP as an alternative to PCI). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use a CORESETPoolIndex, as taught by Zhang, instead of the PCI, as taught by Zhang, in order to associate CORESETs with different beams.
Regarding (1), Matsumura teaches a UE that reports the best beams of both the serving cell and non-serving cells. Matsumura, ¶142. These beam measurements factor in the different transmission powers used by each cell in transmitting the measured SSB. Id. at ¶143. Matsumura also teaches sending a beam measurement result to the network device, wherein the beam measurement result comprises at least one of: the first beam measurement result or the second beam measurement result. Matsumura, ¶144 (UE reports the L1-RSRP value that is offset by the difference in transmission powers between the serving cell and non-serving cell). At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to consider the transmission power, as taught by Matsumura, when reporting the L1-RSRP and L1-SINR measurements, taught by Zhang, in order to ensure an appropriate L1-RSRP value that compensates for the different transmission powers used by each cell. Id. at ¶146.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches wherein the first beam measurement result is obtained according to the second beam measurement result and the first transmission power. Matsumura, ¶143 (the reported L1-RSRP value of the non-serving cell is obtained by adding the difference in transmission power between the serving cell and non-serving cell and the measured L1-RSRP value); see also id. at ¶144 (“RSRP offset to a measured L1-RSRP value”).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches wherein the beam measurement result of the serving cell comprises at least one of a third beam measurement result of the serving cell or a fourth beam measurement result of the serving cell. Matsumura, ¶124 (UE reports the L1-RSRP for N beams of the serving cell [i.e. N may equal 4]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches determining a beam measurement reference signal resource of the serving cell; and performing a beam measurement on the beam measurement reference signal resource of the serving cell to obtain the third beam measurement result of the serving cell. Zhang, ¶64 and Matsumura, ¶30 (L1-RSRP is a measurement of the received power of a reference signal); Zhang, ¶92 and Matsumura, ¶124 (UE reports at least L1-RSRP of serving cell).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches receiving transmission power information of the serving cell (Matsumura, ¶143 – in order for the UE to calculate the difference in SSB transmission power between the serving cell and each non-serving cell, the UE must receive the transmission power of the serving cell); and obtaining the fourth beam measurement result of the serving cell according to the third beam measurement result of the serving cell and the transmission power information of the serving cell. Matsumura, ¶139 and figure 9 (the UE reports the N best beams of the serving cell and all non-serving cells, which may include multiple beams of serving cell, based on the L1-RSRP values of each beam); Matsumura, ¶¶159-160 (the ranking of beams with highest L1-RSRP values may include a recalculation of the RSRP value using the difference in transmission power between the serving cell and non-serving cell).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches wherein a manner for reporting the beam measurement result comprises at least one of: periodic reporting; non-periodic reporting; or semi-persistent reporting. Matsumura, ¶¶32, 110.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches wherein each group in the at least one group corresponds to at least one of: a beam group identifier (ID); a physical cell identifier (PCI); a reference signal resource set ID; a reference signal resource ID; a transmission reception point (TRP) ID; or an antenna panel ID. Zhang, ¶98 (physical cell ID).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches wherein the beam measurement result comprises at least one of: a layer 1-reference signal receiving power (L1-RSRP); a layer 1-signal to interference plus noise ratio (L1-SINR); a correction value of a L1-RSRP based on the first transmission power of the coordination cell; a correction value of a L1-SINR based on the first transmission power of the coordination cell; a correction value of a L1-RSRP based on an uplink transmission power of the UE; or a correction value of a L1-SINR based on an uplink transmission power of the UE. Zhang, ¶¶92, 97 (L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura also teaches wherein the first transmission power of the coordination cell comprises at least one of: a transmission power value of the coordination cell; or a difference between the transmission power of the coordination cell and a transmission power of a serving cell. Matsumura, ¶¶143-144 (the reported L1-RSRP value is based on the RSRP offset, which is the difference between serving cell’s transmission power and a non-serving cell’s transmission power).
Regarding claim 19, Zhang teaches a coordination cell beam measurement method, performed by a network device, comprising:
sending indication information to a user equipment (UE) (Zhang, ¶88 – serving cell’s gNB sends indication of candidate cell pool to UE),
wherein the indication information comprises a first transmission power of a coordination cell (Zhang, ¶89 – the indication may include the transmission powers of candidate cells) to enable the UE to:
obtain first beam measurement result of the coordination cell. . . Zhang, ¶99 (gNB configures the neighboring cells’ reference signal in a channel measurement resource, CMR); Zhang, ¶92 (UE reports L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR of neighboring cells when executing group-based beam reporting);
determine a beam measurement reference signal resource of the coordination cell (Zhang, ¶99 – gNB configures the neighboring cells’ reference signal in a channel measurement resource, CMR), and
obtain a second beam measurement result of the coordination cell according to the beam measurement reference signal resource of the coordination cell (Zhang, ¶92 - UE reports L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR of neighboring cells when executing group-based beam reporting [which creates multiple measurement results]);
receiving a beam measurement result to the network device, wherein the beam measurement result comprises at least one of: the first beam measurement result; or the second beam measurement result (Zhang, ¶92 and figure 7 – CSI report from UE includes the L1-RSRP values of serving cell and neighbor cells);
wherein the beam measurement result further comprises a beam measurement result of a serving cell (Zhang, ¶92 - UE reports L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR of serving cell),
wherein the beam measurement result is reported by at least one group. Zhang, ¶¶97-98 (for measurement reporting, a group of N candidate cells are configured by the serving cell’s RRC signal).
While Zhang reports measurements of the neighboring cell (Zhang, ¶92), it does not explicitly teach “obtaining a first beam measurement result of the coordination cell according to the first transmission power.” However, Matsumura teaches a UE that reports the best beams of both the serving cell and non-serving cells. Matsumura, ¶142. These beam measurement factor in the different transmission powers used by each cell in transmitting the measured SSB. Id. at ¶143. Matsumura also teaches sending a beam measurement result to the network device, wherein the beam measurement result comprises at least one of: the first beam measurement result or the second beam measurement result. Matsumura, ¶144 (UE reports the L1-RSRP value that is offset by the difference in transmission powers between the serving cell and non-serving cell). At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to consider the transmission power, as taught by Matsumura, when reporting the L1-RSRP and L1-SINR measurements, taught by Zhang, in order to ensure an appropriate L1-RSRP value that compensates for the different transmission powers used by each cell. Id. at ¶146.
Claims 12, 13, and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20220304036) in view of Matsumura (US 20240171243) and further in view of Chen (US 20210306895).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach either of “wherein beams in the group are beams which can be received by the UE simultaneously, or beams between different groups are beams which can be received by the UE simultaneously.” However, Chen teaches a UE simultaneously receiving reference signals using a group of beams. Chen, ¶106. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to enable the UE, taught by the combination of Zhang and Matsumura, to possess the grouping capability, taught by Chen, in order to help the network node processes measurement results through the UE’s measurement result grouping. Chen, ¶99; see also id. at ¶112 for optimal measurement value for a group of beams.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Zhang and Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach “sending the beam measurement result to the network device, in response to a reporting condition being satisfied.” However, Chen teaches a UE performing layer 1 filtering when deciding whether to report its measurement result. Chen, ¶95. The UE only reports measurement results that satisfy a specific condition, such as being greater than a preset threshold. Ibid. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the layer 1 filtering, taught by Chen, when reporting the L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR, taught by the combination of Zhang and Matsumura, in order to reduce the amount of uplink resources that will be needed for measurement reporting.
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Zhang, Matsumura, and Chen also teaches wherein the reporting condition is: a beam measurement result of the coordination cell being greater than a first threshold. Chen, ¶95 (threshold); Zhang, ¶92 (measurement reporting of neighboring cell).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Zhang, Matsumura, and Chen also teaches wherein the reporting condition is: sorting beam measurement results of the coordination cell and beam measurement results of a serving cell from strong to weak, wherein the beam measurement results of the coordination cell are top N beam measurement results, where N is a positive integer. Matsumura, ¶¶138, 142, 159 and figure 9 (N best beams of the serving cell and non-serving cell are reported).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Zhang, Matsumura, and Chen also teaches wherein the reporting condition is: sorting beam measurement results of the coordination cell from strong to weak, and reporting top M beam measurement results of the coordination cell, where M is a positive integer. Matsumura, ¶¶138, 142, 159 and figure 9 (a subset of the N best beams of the serving cell and non-serving cell include M beams of the non-serving cell [e.g. 1 beam for non-serving cell #2 and 2 beams for non-serving cell #1 in figure 9]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03, which allows for written authorization via the USPTO electronic filing system or mail, but not via email). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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