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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the application filed on 12/21/2023 has a total of 20 claims pending in the application; there are 4 independent claims and 16 dependent claims, all of which are ready for examination by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6, 8-16, 18-20, 22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YANG et al. Publication No. (US 2024/0089070 A1) in view of Comsa et al. Publication No. (US 2024/0188015 A1).
Regarding claim 1, YANG teaches a method for determining an application time of a beam, performed by a terminal device, comprising:
receiving downlink control information (DCI) based on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of a first carrier (receiving, by a terminal, beam indication signaling includes a downlink control information DCI, where the DCI carries the beam indication signaling [004951] 201-FIG.2), wherein the DCI is configured to indicate a beam corresponding to a designated resource on a second carrier (determining, based on a subcarrier spacing of a component carriers (CC) in which a first physical downlink control channel PDCCH is located, the first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to the second CC of the N CCs, where the first PDCCH is a PDCCH carrying the DCI [0059-60] 202-FIG.2);
sending indication information, wherein the indication information is configured to indicate a receiving of the DCI (the terminal determines a target subcarrier spacing according to a subcarrier spacing determining rule, where the target subcarrier spacing includes a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to N component carriers CCs or a second target subcarrier spacing corresponding to a first bandwidth part (BWP) in which an acknowledgement ACK message of the DCI is located [0059-60] 202-FIG.2); and
determining an application time of the beam corresponding to the designated resource according to a sending time point of the indication information (The terminal determines a beam application time based on the target subcarrier spacing, where the beam application time includes a first beam application time corresponding to the N CCs or a second beam application time corresponding to the first BWP of the N CCs [0096-101] 203-FIG.2)
YANG does not explicitly teach indicating a receiving state of the DCI.
Comsa teaches indicating a receiving state of the DCI (Comsa: A UE may acknowledge reception of the indicated TCI by transmission of an uplink signal (e.g., ACK, SRS, etc.) to make sure that both the UE and the gNB are in sync in application of the newly indicated TCI state, they may use a same time reference, e.g., a reference associated with the transmission of the acknowledgment signal. The beam application time for an indicated TCI refers to the time elapsed from a time reference point known to both the gNB and the WTRU (e.g., the last symbol of the transmitted acknowledgment signal, or the received PDCCH including the DCI for indication of TCI state) to the time of application of the new TCI state [0247-250] FIG.2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified YANG by the teaching of Comsa to indicate the receiving state of the DCI in order to apply for both the gNB and the WTRU the newly indicated TCI state after applying the beam application time (Comsa: [0248] FIG.2).
Regarding claim 2, YANG teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the designated resource comprises at least one of a channel or a reference signal resource (The common beam information is used for determining beam information of all or part of channels or reference signals of the CCs [0042] FIG.1).
Regarding claim 3, YANG teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the designated resource comprises at least one of:
a PDCCH, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical random access channel (PRACH), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), or a synchronization signal block (SSB) (The common beam information is used for determining beam information of all or part of channels or reference signals of the CCs, for example, being used for determining beam information for terminal-dedicated reception on PDSCH (UE-dedicated reception on PDSCH), terminal-specific control resource set (UE-specific CORESET), non-terminal-specific control resource set (non-UE-specific CORESET), and PUCCH or PUSCH [0042] FIG.1).
Regarding claim 4, YANG teaches the method according to claim 3, further comprising: determining the designated resource according to at least one of:
a control resource set identifier; a control resource set pool identifier; an identifier of a semi-persistent PDSCH; an identifier of a resource corresponding to a PUCCH; an identifier of a configured grant free PUSCH; a PRACH resource identifier; an SSB index; a reference signal resource identifier; or a reference signal resource set identifier (The common beam information is used for determining beam information of all or part of channels or reference signals of the CCs, for example, being used for determining beam information for terminal-dedicated reception on PDSCH (UE-dedicated reception on PDSCH), terminal-specific control resource set (UE-specific CORESET), non-terminal-specific control resource set (non-UE-specific CORESET), and PUCCH or PUSCH [0042] FIG.1).
Regarding claim 5, the modified YANG teaches the method according to claim1,wherein determining the application time of the beam corresponding to the designated resource according to the sending time point of the indication information comprises: determining the application time of the beam corresponding to the designated resource according to the sending time point of the indication information and a designated time gap (Comsa: a WTRU may be configured with a time duration X; measured in a number of symbols, slots, etc. [0265] If a WTRU receives a second dynamically indicated TCI state within the time window X started from the first dynamically indicated TCI state, the WTRU may send only one ACK to the single gNB supporting both cells if both indicated TCI states are decoded correctly [0264-268] FIG.3).
Regarding claim 6, YANG teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the DCI is further configured to indicate first resource information of at least one of a PDSCH or a PUSCH on the second carrier, and second resource information of a PUCCH for sending the indication information, the method further comprising: determining the designated time gap according to at least one of: the first resource information, the second resource information, or third resource information of a PDCCH on the first carrier (the determining a beam application time based on the first duration includes: determining a time unit with the first duration after a first time unit as the beam application time; where the first time unit is a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit in which the ACK message corresponding to the DCI is located, a time unit with a second duration after the time unit in which the DCI is located, and a time unit with the second duration after the time unit for the ACK message corresponding to the DCI [0101-108] FIG.2).
Claim 7. (Canceled).
Regarding claim 8, YANG teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein determining the designated time gap further comprises: determining the designated time gap according to at least one of a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) in the first resource information or an SCS in the second resource information (the first duration is determined based on a ratio of the target subcarrier spacing to the fifteenth preset subcarrier spacing. Specifically, the target subcarrier spacing is used as the numerator, the fifteenth preset subcarrier is used as the denominator, and the two are divided to obtain a ratio. The ratio is then multiplied by d to obtain the first duration [0109-113]).
Regarding claim 9, YANG teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein determining the designated time gap according to at least one of the sub-carrier spacing (SCS) in the first resource information or the SCS in the second resource information comprises at least one of:
determining the designated time gap according to the SCS in the first resource information, wherein an SCS in the third resource information is greater than or equal to the SCS in the first resource information;
determining the designated time gap according to the SCS in the second resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is greater than or equal to the SCS in the first resource information;
determining the designated time gap according to the SCS in the first resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is greater than or equal to the SCS in the second resource information; or
determining the designated time gap according to the SCS in the second resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is greater than or equal to the SCS in the second resource information.
(during determining of the first duration based on the target subcarrier spacing and the fifteenth preset subcarrier spacing, the subcarrier spacing determining rule includes determining a subcarrier spacing of a second CC as a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to the second CC, where the second CC is any one of the N CCs, that is, each CC corresponds to its own first target subcarrier spacing, or determining, based on a fourth preset subcarrier spacing, a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to each of the N CCs, where the fourth preset subcarrier spacing is obtained by processing subcarrier spacings of all CCs in the N CCs according to the preset processing rule; that is, each CC corresponds to a same first target subcarrier spacing [0109-113]).
Regarding claim 10, the modified YANG teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein determining the designated time gap further comprises: determining a first sub time in the designated time gap according to at least one of an SCS in the first resource information or an SCS in the second resource information (Comsa: a WTRU may be configured with a time duration X; measured in a number of symbols, slots, etc. If a WTRU receives a second dynamically indicated TCI state within the time window X started from the first dynamically indicated TCI state, the WTRU may send only one ACK to the single gNB supporting both cells if both indicated TCI states are decoded correctly [0264-268] FIG.3).
Regarding claim 11, YANG teaches the method according to claim 10, wherein determining the first sub time in the designated time gap according to at least one of the SCS in the first resource information or the SCS in the second resource information comprises at least one of:
determining the first sub time in the designated time gap according to the SCS in the first resource information, wherein an SCS in the third resource information is less than the SCS in the first resource information;
determining the first sub time in the designated time gap according to the SCS in the second resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is less than the SCS in the first resource information;
determining the first sub time in the designated time gap according to the SCS in the first resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is less than the SCS in the second resource information; or
determining the first sub time in the designated time gap according to the SCS in the second resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is less than the SCS in the second resource information.
(during determining of the first duration based on the target subcarrier spacing and the fifteenth preset subcarrier spacing, the subcarrier spacing determining rule includes determining a subcarrier spacing of a second CC as a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to the second CC, where the second CC is any one of the N CCs, that is, each CC corresponds to its own first target subcarrier spacing, or determining, based on a fourth preset subcarrier spacing, a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to each of the N CCs, where the fourth preset subcarrier spacing is obtained by processing subcarrier spacings of all CCs in the N CCs according to the preset processing rule; that is, each CC corresponds to a same first target subcarrier spacing [0109-113]).
Regarding claim 12, YANG teaches the method according to claim 10, further comprising: determining a second sub time in the designated time gap (a first duration, for example, 28 symbols, is determined based on the target subcarrier spacing, and a time unit located 28 symbols after the first time unit [time gap] is determined as the beam application time. The time unit in this embodiment of this application may be a slot, a symbol, or the like [0108-109]).
Regarding claim 13, YANG teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein determining the second sub time in the designated time gap comprises at least one of: determining the second sub time in the designated time gap according to at least one of the SCS in the first resource information or an SCS in the third resource information; or determining the second sub time in the designated time gap according to at least one of the SCS in the second resource information and/or or an SCS in the third resource information (the determining a beam application time based on the first duration includes: determining a time unit with the first duration after a first time unit as the beam application time; where the first time unit is a time unit in which the DCI is located, a time unit in which the ACK message corresponding to the DCI is located, a time unit with a second duration after the time unit in which the DCI is located, and a time unit with the second duration after the time unit for the ACK message corresponding to the DCI [0101-108] FIG.2).
Regarding claim 14, YANG teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein, the second sub time is directly proportional to the SCS in the first resource information and inversely proportional to the SCS in the third resource information;
the second sub time is directly proportional to the SCS in the second resource information and inversely proportional to the SCS in the third resource information; or
the second sub time is directly proportional to the SCS in the first resource information and the SCS in the second resource information, and inversely proportional to the SCS in the third resource information (a subcarrier spacing determining rule is used for determining a subcarrier spacing of a second CC as a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to the second CC, where the second CC is any one of the N CCs, that is, each CC corresponds to its own first target subcarrier spacing, or determining, based on a fourth preset subcarrier spacing, a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to each of the N CCs, where the fourth preset subcarrier spacing is obtained by processing subcarrier spacings of all CCs in the N CCs according to the preset processing rule; that is, each CC corresponds to a same first target subcarrier spacing [0109-113]).
Regarding claim 15, YANG teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein determining the designated time gap further comprises at least one of:
determining the designated time gap according to at least one of the second resource information or third resource information of the PDCCH on the first carrier, wherein the DCI is further configured to indicate second resource information of a PUCCH for sending the indication information (determining, based on a subcarrier spacing of a component carriers (CC) in which a first physical downlink control channel PDCCH is located, the first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to the second CC of the N CCs, where the first PDCCH is a PDCCH carrying the DCI [0059-60] 202-FIG.2).
Regarding claim 16, YANG teaches the method according to claim 15, wherein determining the designated time gap according to at least one of the second resource information or the third resource information of the PDCCH on the first carrier comprises at least one of:
determining the designated time gap according to at least one of the SCS in the second resource information and/or or the SCS in the third resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is greater than or equal to the SCS in the second resource information; or
determining a first sub time in the designated time gap according to at least one of the SCS in the second resource information or the SCS in the third resource information, wherein the SCS in the third resource information is less than the SCS in the second resource information (a subcarrier spacing determining rule is used for determining a subcarrier spacing of a second CC as a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to the second CC, where the second CC is any one of the N CCs, that is, each CC corresponds to its own first target subcarrier spacing, or determining, based on a fourth preset subcarrier spacing, a first target subcarrier spacing corresponding to each of the N CCs, where the fourth preset subcarrier spacing is obtained by processing subcarrier spacings of all CCs in the N CCs according to the preset processing rule; that is, each CC corresponds to a same first target subcarrier spacing [0109-113]).
Claim 17. (Canceled).
Regarding claim 18, YANG teaches the method according to claim 16, further comprising: determining a second sub time in the designated time gap according to the SCS in the second resource information and the SCS in the third resource information(The network-side device determines a beam application time based on the target subcarrier spacing, where the beam application time includes a first beam application time corresponding to the N CCs or a second beam application time corresponding to the first BWP of the N CCs [0140-142] FIG.3).
Regarding claim 19, YANG teaches the method according to claim 18, wherein, the second sub time is directly proportional to the SCS in the second resource information and inversely proportional to the SCS in the third resource information (The network-side device determines a beam application time based on the target subcarrier spacing, where the beam application time includes a first beam application time corresponding to the N CCs or a second beam application time corresponding to the first BWP of the N CCs [0140-142] FIG.3).
Regarding claim 20, YANG teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein, the first carrier and the second carrier correspond to different serving cells of the terminal device respectively; the first carrier corresponds to a serving cell of the terminal device, and the second carrier corresponds to a non-serving cell of the terminal device; or the first carrier corresponds to a non-serving cell of the terminal device, and the second carrier corresponds to a serving cell of the terminal device (The network-side device 12 may be a base station or a core network device, referred to as a NodeB, an access point, a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a eNB, a home NodeB, a WLAN access point, a WiFi node, a TRP used to indicate beam indication signaling to indicate common beam information of N component carriers to the terminal 11 [0038-42] FIG.1).
Claim 21. (Canceled).
Regarding claim 22, related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claim 1, where the difference used is the limitations were presented from the “communication device” with a processor and memory (YANG: FIG.6) and the wordings of the claim were interchanged within the claim itself or were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above treated claims. Adding these phrases to the claim and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to this claim. Therefore, this claim was rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Claim 23. (Canceled).
Regarding claim 24, related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claim 1, where the difference used is the limitations were presented from the “computer readable medium” with instructions executed by a processor (YANG: [0407-408] FIG.8) and the wordings of the claim were interchanged within the claim itself or were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above treated claims. Adding these phrases to the claim and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to this claim. Therefore this claim was rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Conclusion
When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections See 37 CFR 1.111 (c).
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/ABDELNABI O MUSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472