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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/27/23 & 05/23/25 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9, 17-19 and 25 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 7-9, 17-19 and 25 are objected as allowable because the closest prior art found fails to disclose, teach or suggest either alone or render obvious in a combined teachings of the prior art, the uniquely distinct features in the specific order, structure and combination of limitations together as a whole of the limitations recited in dependent claims 7-9, 17-19 and 25 in combination with the all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims from which claims 7-9, 17-19 and 25 are dependent upon.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 10-16 and 20-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al. (US Patent Publication 2020/0107314 herein after referenced as Zhou) in view of Farag et al. (US Patent Publication 2022/0271821 herein after referenced as Farag).
Regarding claim 1 and claim 11 and claim 21, Zhou discloses:
A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory communicatively coupled with the at least one processor and storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor, is configured to cause the UE to: and A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: and An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for (Zhou, [0007] discloses Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a user equipment UE (i.e. reads on UE and reads on apparatus). The method generally includes providing an indication to a base station BS of a number of aperiodic trigger states supported by the UE. The method generally includes receiving an activation of one or more aperiodic trigger states from the BS in accordance with the indication; Zhou, Fig. 8 & [0070] discloses In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 812 is configured to store instructions e.g., computer-executable code that when executed by the processor 804, cause the processor 804 to perform the operations illustrated in FIG. 4 and/or FIG. 6, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein for a UE indication of the UE capability for the maximum number of supported trigger states).
receive, from a serving cell, information indicating a set of activated channel state information (CSI) trigger states (Zhou, Fig. 3 shows the BS signaling (i.e. reads on receive, from a serving cell) activating subset of trigger states (i.e. reads on information indicating a set of activated channel state information CSI trigger states) to the UE at step 310; Zhou, Fig. 3 & [0056] discloses At 310, the UE 302 may receive signaling activating a subset of the configured trigger states, for example, via lower layer signaling such as MAC-CE, or via RRC. The triggered A-CSI-RS resource sets may be used by the UE 302 and BS 304 for the A-CSI-RS and CSI (i.e. reads on channel state information CSI) reporting at 314 and 316, respectively; Zhou, [0051] discloses The UE may be configured with downlink resources for channel state information CSI reference signals RS, such as aperiodic CSI-RS A-CSI-RS; Zhou, [0074] discloses In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a Node B NB and/or a NB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term “cell” and BS, next generation NodeB gNB or gNodeB, access point AP, distributed unit DU, carrier, or transmission reception point TRP may be used interchangeably).
that are respectively associated with a set of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states each having a respective source reference signal; (Zhou, [0031] discloses For the same A-CSI-RS resource in the same resource set, the transmission configuration indicator TCI state e.g., beam may be different for different trigger states. Thus, different trigger states, including those that trigger one or more of the same A-CSI-RS (i.e. reads on each having a respective source reference signal) resources, may be associated with different TCI states (i.e. reads on that are respectively associated with a set of TCI states); Zhou, [0051] discloses The UE may be configured with downlink resources for channel state information CSI reference signals RS, such as aperiodic CSI-RS A-CSI-RS).
and track, based at least in part on a capability to concurrently track multiple TCI states, a subset of TCI states, of the set of TCI states, (Zhou, [0056] discloses the UE 302 can send the BS 304 an indication of the supported number of trigger states. For example, the UE 302 sends an indication of the maximum number of active A-CSI-RS trigger states that the UE supports e.g., or a requested number of active A-CSI-RS trigger states (i.e. reads on based at least in part on a capability to concurrently track multiple TCI states). Although the UE indication of the supported number of trigger states at 306 is shown in FIG. 3 as before the configuration of the trigger states, in other examples, the UE indication could be provided after the configuration but before the activation at 310. At 312, the UE 302 may receive DCI from the BS 304 trigger one or more A-CSI-RS resource set(s), for example, by indicating/selecting one or more trigger states (i.e. reads on a subset of TCI states), of the activated subset of trigger states (i.e. reads on of the set of TCI states), associated with the one or more A-CSI-RS resource sets. The triggered A-CSI-RS resource sets may be used by the UE 302 and BS 304 for the A-CSI-RS and CSI reporting at 314 and 316, respectively; Zhou, [0031] discloses Because the total number of active trigger states is determined by the BS e.g., up to 64 active trigger states with the same A-CSI-RS potentially having different TCI states for each trigger states, the UE may track e.g., time and frequency tracking many TCI states e.g., up to 64 TCI states for the same A-CSI-RS resource for dynamic beam indication/beam switch. In some examples, the UE may track the many TCI states simultaneously e.g., at the same time, concurrently, or during an overlapping period of time).
Zhou discloses a process of utilizing a reference signal associated with a TCI state but fails to explicitly disclose a TCI state for a non-serving cell SSB and therefore fails to disclose “including at least one TCI state for which the respective source reference signal is a non-serving cell synchronization signal block (SSB).”
In a related field of endeavor, Farag discloses:
including at least one TCI state for which the respective source reference signal is a non-serving cell synchronization signal block (SSB) (Farag, [0175]-[0176] discloses A source RS in the TCI (i.e. reads on including at least one TCI state) can be a source RS associated with a serving cell, or a source RS (i.e. reads on for which the respective source reference signal is a SSB) associated with a non-serving cell (i.e. reads on non-serving cell). The source RS of a serving cell can be at least one of the following: (1) synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel PBCH block SSB of serving cell and discloses Similarly, the source RS of a non-serving cell can be at least one of the following: (1) SSB of non-serving cell; Farag, [0131] discloses To streamline the handover process and reduce its overhead and latency L1/L2 centric handover, also known as inter-cell beam management, can be utilized, wherein a network indicates to the UE a beam of a non-serving cell i.e., a cell with a PCI different from the PCI of the serving cell using a channel that conveys a TCI state ID e.g. TCI state code point. The present disclosure provides aspects related to the configuration of the TCI states and source RS for cells with PCI different from the PCI of the serving cell; Farag, [0191] discloses the activated TCI state IDs correspond to: (1) one serving cell or a group of serving cells; (2) one or more non-serving cells or one or more groups of non-serving cells; and (3) a UE capability can determine the maximum number of non-serving cells or groups of non-serving cells with activated TCI state IDs; Farag, [0451] discloses the maximum number of entities configured is K. Out of the K entities, L entities can have activated TCI states, this is denoted as the activated list. Wherein, L can depend on a UE capability and/or can be specified in the system specifications. An entity can be a cell with a PCI; Farag, [0315] discloses The QCL relation or the source RSspatial relation can be established through a TCI state. A TCI-state configuration associates a TCI state ID with one or more source RS as illustrated in FIG. 12. A TCI-state configuration table contains a row for each TCI-state ID 1201, 1202, 1203. Each row contains a TCI-state ID 1204, QCL-Type1 1205, and optionally QCL-Type2 1206. Each QCL-Type includes a source reference signal and a QCL-Type, where the QCL-Type can be Type-A, Type-B, Type-C or Type-D. Each TCI-state can have at most 1 QCL-Type-D. For example, qcl-Type1 can be of QCL-Type A, while qcl-Type2 can be of QCL-Type D. A reference signal can be a reference signal of an entity as illustrated in FIG. 21).
Therefore, at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Zhou to incorporate the teachings of Farag for the purpose of providing the system with a means to streamline the handover process and reduce its overhead and latency (Farag, [0131]) and for the purpose of making the system more dynamic and adaptable by providing the system with added functionalities and various different alternatives in design, thereby allowing the system to handle a number of various different combination of specific design structure and scenarios (i.e. Zhou, [0088]) and thereby, preventing the system from being limited to a single specific design structure and scenario and furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize based on the guidelines to rationales supporting a conclusion of obviousness seen on MPEP 2143, that the modification would involve use of a simple substitution of one known element and base device (i.e. performing a process of process of utilizing a reference signal associated with a TCI state as taught by Zhou) with another known element and comparable device utilizing a known technique (i.e. performing a process of process of utilizing a reference signal associated with a TCI state, wherein the process includes utilizing a QCL relation and an SSB reference signal of a maximum amount of non-serving cells as taught by Farag) to improve the similar devices in the same way and to obtain the predictable result of the system performing a process of process of utilizing a reference signal associated with a TCI state (i.e. as taught by both Zhou & Farag) and is dependent upon the specific intended use, design incentives, needs and requirements (i.e. such as due to teachings of a known standard, current technology, conservation of resources, personal preferences, economic considerations, etc.) of the user and the system as has been established in MPEP 2144.04.
Regarding claim 2 and claim 12 and claim 22, Zhou in view of Wang discloses:
The UE of claim 1, wherein, to cause the UE to (see claim 1) and The method of claim 11, wherein (see claim 11) and The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the means for (see claim 21).
track the subset of TCI states for which the respective source reference signal is a non-serving cell SSB, the processor- readable code, when executed by the at least one processor, is configured to cause the UE to track one or more of a time and frequency offset or one or more quasi co-location (QCL) properties associated with the non-serving cell SSB (Zhou, [0031] discloses Because the total number of active trigger states is determined by the BS e.g., up to 64 active trigger states with the same A-CSI-RS potentially having different TCI states for each trigger states, the UE may track e.g., time and frequency tracking many TCI states e.g., up to 64 TCI states for the same A-CSI-RS resource for dynamic beam indication/beam switch. In some examples, the UE may track the many TCI states simultaneously e.g., at the same time, concurrently, or during an overlapping period of time; Farag, [0191] discloses the activated TCI state IDs correspond to: (1) one serving cell or a group of serving cells; (2) one or more non-serving cells or one or more groups of non-serving cells; and (3) a UE capability can determine the maximum number of non-serving cells or groups of non-serving cells with activated TCI state IDs; Farag, [0451] discloses the maximum number of entities configured is K. Out of the K entities, L entities can have activated TCI states, this is denoted as the activated list. Wherein, L can depend on a UE capability and/or can be specified in the system specifications. An entity can be a cell with a PCI; Farag, [0315] discloses The QCL relation or the source RSspatial relation can be established through a TCI state. A TCI-state configuration associates a TCI state ID with one or more source RS as illustrated in FIG. 12. A TCI-state configuration table contains a row for each TCI-state ID 1201, 1202, 1203. Each row contains a TCI-state ID 1204, QCL-Type1 1205, and optionally QCL-Type2 1206. Each QCL-Type includes a source reference signal and a QCL-Type, where the QCL-Type can be Type-A, Type-B, Type-C or Type-D. Each TCI-state can have at most 1 QCL-Type-D. For example, qcl-Type1 can be of QCL-Type A, while qcl-Type2 can be of QCL-Type D. A reference signal can be a reference signal of an entity as illustrated in FIG. 21).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 13 and claim 23, Zhou in view of Wang discloses:
The UE of claim 1, (see claim 1) and The method of claim 11 (see claim 11) and The apparatus of claim 21 (see claim 21).
wherein the subset of TCI states includes a total quantity of non-serving cell SSBs with different physical cell identities (PCIs) that does not exceed the capability to concurrently track multiple TCI states (Zhou, [0064] discloses the BS may limit the number of configured aperiodic trigger states based on the indicated UE capability e.g., configures equal or less than the number of trigger states supported by the UE; Farag, [0191] discloses the activated TCI state IDs correspond to: (1) one serving cell or a group of serving cells; (2) one or more non-serving cells or one or more groups of non-serving cells; and (3) a UE capability can determine the maximum number of non-serving cells or groups of non-serving cells with activated TCI state IDs; Farag, [0451] discloses the maximum number of entities configured is K. Out of the K entities, L entities can have activated TCI states, this is denoted as the activated list. Wherein, L can depend on a UE capability and/or can be specified in the system specifications. An entity can be a cell with a PCI).
Regarding claim 4 and claim 14, Zhou in view of Wang discloses:
The UE of claim 1, (see claim 1) and The method of claim 11 (see claim 11).
wherein the subset of TCI states includes a total quantity of TCI states for which the source reference signal is a non-serving cell SSB that does not exceed the capability to concurrently track multiple TCI states (Zhou, [0064] discloses the BS may limit the number of configured aperiodic trigger states based on the indicated UE capability e.g., configures equal or less than the number of trigger states supported by the UE; Farag, [0191] discloses the activated TCI state IDs correspond to: (1) one serving cell or a group of serving cells; (2) one or more non-serving cells or one or more groups of non-serving cells; and (3) a UE capability can determine the maximum number of non-serving cells or groups of non-serving cells with activated TCI state IDs; Farag, [0451] discloses the maximum number of entities configured is K. Out of the K entities, L entities can have activated TCI states, this is denoted as the activated list. Wherein, L can depend on a UE capability and/or can be specified in the system specifications. An entity can be a cell with a PCI).
Regarding claim 5 and claim 15 and claim 24, Zhou in view of Wang discloses:
The UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory further stores processor- readable code configured to cause the UE to (see claim 1) and The method of claim 11, further comprising (see claim 11) and The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising (see claim 21).
receive information that indicates a time duration in which to track the subset of TCI states for which the respective source reference signal is a non-serving cell SSB (Farag, [0334] discloses the entity index/ID could be an index/ID of another RRC parameter indicating non-serving cell e.g., cell with PCI different from the PCI of the serving cell information such as non-serving cell SSB time-domain position, SSB frequency-domain position, PCI and etc.; Farag, [0142] discloses The reference RS can be triggered by the NW/gNB, for example via DCI in case of aperiodic (AP) RS, or can be configured with a certain time-domain behavior, such as a periodicity and offset in case of periodic RS, or can be a combination of such configuration and activation/deactivation in case of semi-persistent RS; Zhou, [0031] discloses For the same A-CSI-RS resource in the same resource set, the transmission configuration indicator TCI state e.g., beam may be different for different trigger states. Thus, different trigger states, including those that trigger one or more of the same A-CSI-RS resources, may be associated with different TCI states).
Regarding claim 6 and claim 16, Zhou in view of Wang discloses:
The UE of claim 5, (see claim 5) and The method of claim 15 (see claim 15).
wherein a quantity of TCI states with a non-serving cell SSB as a source reference signal, or a quantity of non-serving cell SSBs that are tracked within the time duration does not exceed the capability to concurrently track multiple TCI states (Farag, [0334] discloses the entity index/ID could be an index/ID of another RRC parameter indicating non-serving cell e.g., cell with PCI different from the PCI of the serving cell information such as non-serving cell SSB time-domain position, SSB frequency-domain position, PCI and etc.; Farag, [0142] discloses The reference RS can be triggered by the NW/gNB, for example via DCI in case of aperiodic (AP) RS, or can be configured with a certain time-domain behavior, such as a periodicity and offset in case of periodic RS, or can be a combination of such configuration and activation/deactivation in case of semi-persistent RS; Zhou, [0031] discloses For the same A-CSI-RS resource in the same resource set, the transmission configuration indicator TCI state e.g., beam may be different for different trigger states. Thus, different trigger states, including those that trigger one or more of the same A-CSI-RS resources, may be associated with different TCI states; Zhou, [0064] discloses the BS may limit the number of configured aperiodic trigger states based on the indicated UE capability e.g., configures equal or less than the number of trigger states supported by the UE; Farag, [0191] discloses the activated TCI state IDs correspond to: (1) one serving cell or a group of serving cells; (2) one or more non-serving cells or one or more groups of non-serving cells; and (3) a UE capability can determine the maximum number of non-serving cells or groups of non-serving cells with activated TCI state IDs; Farag, [0451] discloses the maximum number of entities configured is K. Out of the K entities, L entities can have activated TCI states, this is denoted as the activated list. Wherein, L can depend on a UE capability and/or can be specified in the system specifications. An entity can be a cell with a PCI).
Regarding claim 10 and claim 20, Zhou in view of Wang discloses:
The UE of claim 1, (see claim 1) and The method of claim 11 (see claim 11).
wherein the set of activated CSI trigger states is indicated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) (Zhou, Fig. 3 & [0056] discloses At 310, the UE 302 may receive signaling activating a subset of the configured trigger states, for example, via lower layer signaling such as MAC-CE, or via RRC).
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL Y MAPA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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