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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 01/22/2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 5-6 and 10 are amended. Claims 1-3, 5-7 and 10 are pending and addressed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 5-6 and 10 now recite limitation “wherein a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a Control Resource Set (CORESET) is updated using the second MAC CE”, which is not described in the specification. Spec is silent about the second MAC CE having updated TCI state of a CORESET. Supporting paragraphs, as cited in Applicant’s remarks, [137 and [147] only discloses that TCI state of a CORESET is updated by a MAC CE, not the second MAC CE as in the claim. Therefore, it is a new matter case. Other claims are subjected to the same rejection by virtue of their dependency on the above rejected claims.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 5-6 and 10 now recite that the second MAC CE contains both SSB index of the activated non-serving cells and TCI state of a CORESET. It is not clear about a single MAC CE comprising two different disparate pieces of information. Other claims are subjected to the same rejection by virtue of their dependency on the above rejected claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-3, 5-7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TANG; Zhixun et al US 20210251040 A1, hereinafter TANG, in view of Park; Jonghyun et al US 20220124782 A1, hereinafter Park.
Regarding claims 1, 5, 6 and 10, TANG teaches, a terminal comprising:
a receiver that receives a first Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) including information used for at least one of activation and deactivation of non-serving cells (“Non-serving cell” is interpreted as a neighboring cell that is to be activated/deactivated for the wireless communication connection – a secondary cell (SCell) is well-known in the art as being such a non-serving cell. TANG [0005] “ The method can include receiving on a primary cell (PCell) at a user equipment (UE) a first medium access (MAC) control element (CE) for activating a first secondary cell (SCell) and a second SCell for the UE in a wireless communication system., [0069] ” Accordingly, control signaling (e.g., MAC CEs) can be received on the PCell 110 for activating or deactivating one of the SCells 120a-120n.”), and a second MAC CE including information to indicate a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) index of at least one non-serving cell of the non-serving cells that are active and indicated in the first MAC CE (TANG [0006] “ In an embodiment, the activating the first and second SCells in parallel includes receiving on the PCell a second MAC CE for indicating a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state […], performing a time-frequency tracking process on the second SCell based on an SSB indicated in the first TCI state, […], [0062] “For example, a TCI state may be signaled to the UE 101 in a MAC CE (or a MAC CE activation command) to indicate an SSB (in form of an SSB index) for PDCCH or PDSCH reception.”, teaching a second MAC CE that includes TCI state comprising SSB index); and
a processor that controls transmission/reception to/from the non-serving cell indicated in the second MAC CE (Implied in TANG. See also Fig. 2, [62] “When beamforming is employed and the TCI mechanism is utilized. […]).
TANG does not expressly teach, however, in the same field of endeavor, Park teaches, wherein a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a Control Resource Set (CORESET) is updated using the second MAC CE (The limitation is interpreted, under BRI and in line with the Spec, as updating of TCI of a CORESET by a MAC CE. Park [226] “In an example, a MAC entity of a base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs to a MAC entity of a wireless device. […] The one or more MAC CEs comprise at least one of: […], an SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE (1 Octet), an SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE (4 Octet), […].”, [0467] “The wireless device may receive, at a first moment (T.sub.1), a first control command indicating a first TCI-state which may be used for (e.g., associated to, configured for, activated for, indicated for, or applied to) the CORESET (e.g., as an example of the first signal). The wireless device may update (e.g., change, or replace) the TCI-state (having been used so far) of the CORESET with the first TCI-state indicated by the first control command. In an example, the first control command may be a MAC-CE message (e.g., used for updating/activating/selecting a TCI-state for a CORESET).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of TANG to include the features as taught by Park above for enhanced management of TCI states for a wireless device (Park Titile, Abstract).
With respect to claim 5, claim recites the identical features of claim 1 for a corresponding method. Therefore, it is subjected to the same rejection.
With respect to claim 6, claim recites the identical features of claim 1 for a corresponding inter-working base station of the transmitting side. Therefore, it is subjected to the same rejection.
With respect to claim 10, claim recites the identical features of claim 1 for a corresponding system comprising the terminal and the base station. Therefore, it is subjected to the same rejection.
Regarding claim 2, TANG, in view of Park, teaches the terminal, as outlined in the rejection of claim 1.
TANG further teaches, wherein the receiver receives a third MAC CE to indicate non-serving cells for which channel state information (CSI) reporting is activated and a fourth MAC CE to indicate a TCI state for at least one non-serving cell of non- serving cells indicated in the third MAC CE (The claim about using different MAC-CEs for activating CSI reporting and TCI state indication of the non-serving cell. TANG [6] “receiving a third MAC CE on the PCell for activating a semi-persistent (SP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource set of the second SCell, and performing a channel state information (CSI) reporting process based on the SP CSI-RS resource set activated by the third MAC CE on the second SCell.”, [11] “a fourth MAC CE for indicating a TCI state for receiving the other one of the PDCCH and the PDSCH of the SCell.”).
Regarding claims 3 and 7, TANG, in view of Park, teaches the terminal, as outlined in the rejection of claims 1 and 2.
Park further teaches, performing CSI reporting for active SCells as recited in “wherein the processor performs CSI reporting for a non-serving cell being active out of the non-serving cells, and does not perform CSI reporting for a non-serving cell being inactive out of the non-serving cells” (Park [0231] “When a wireless device receives an SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE activating an SCell, the wireless device may activate the SCell. In response to the activating the SCell, the wireless device may perform operations comprising SRS transmissions on the SCell; CQI/PMI/RI/CRI reporting for the SCell, e.g., CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI);”. CSI is known to comprise CQI/PMI/RI).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on 09/18/2026 with respect to claims 1, 5-6 and 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
LIN; Hsuan-Li US 20210111851 A1, SECONDARY CELL ACTIVATION IN NEW RADIO SYSTEM.
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/MAHBUBUL BAR CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475
