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 .
Claim Objections
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 33 which is dependent on claim 20 recites the limitation " the means is configured to receive” in the second line of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim and that of its dependent. Correction to the claim is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 20-26, 30-31, and 34-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20230309089) in view of Bae et al (US 20190373588).
As to claims 20 and 35 Kim discloses an apparatus and a method (Kim Fig. 8 and 11), the apparatus comprising: at least one processor (Kim 102 of Fig. 11); and at least one memory including computer program code (Kim 104 of Fig.11, ¶0292- ¶0293); the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive information indicating that one or more of a plurality of indicators is to be changed - indicator interpreted as a QCL- type (Kim ¶0118-A quasi co-location relationship is configured by a higher layer parameter qcl-Type1 for a first DL RS and qcl-Type2 for a second DL RS (if configured). For two DL RSs, a QCL type is not the same regardless of whether a reference is a same DL RS or a different DL RS. ¶0119- A QCL type corresponding to each DL RS is given by a higher layer parameter qcl-Type of QCL-Info and may take one of the following values. ¶0120 ‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}, ¶0125), wherein: the one or more indicators comprise one or more transmission configuration indicators Kim ¶0125-UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used to map up to 8 TCI states to a codepoint of a DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’);
Kim however is silent where the change of the one or more of a plurality of indicators is from one of masked and unmasked to the other of masked and unmasked and when an indicator of the plurality of indicators is masked, configuration associated with the respective indicator is not used; and when an indicator of the plurality of indicators is unmasked, configuration associated with the respective indicator is usable.
However, in an analogous art Bae remedies this deficiency: (Bae ¶0266- The CRC parity bit of DCI for DL SPS or configured grant transmission may be scrambled or masked by a CS-RNTI. ¶0298-¶0300- the UE may receive the DCI from a base station, and may identify the usage (whether the DCI is for activation DCI or for retransmission DCI) of the received DCI based on a specific field (e.g., NDI field). ¶0299- In order to support such an operation, a DCI field used for activation and retransmission in common may need to be positioned at least in a fixed position. ¶0300- The reason for this is that after unmasking based on a CS-RNTI, a UE should identify whether DCI is DCI for activation or DCI for retransmission by reading a specific field). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim with that of Bae for the purpose of using indicators for repeated transmission of an uplink channel when unmasked (Kim ¶0156- 2nd sentence).
As to claim 21 and 36 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus and method as claimed in claim 20 and 35 respectively, wherein a respective transmission configuration indicator is provided by one or more of a transmission configuration indicator state and quasi co location information (Kim ¶0117- Each TCI-State includes a parameter for configuring a quasi co-location relationship between ports of one or two DL reference signals and a DM-RS (demodulation reference signal) of a PDSCH).
As to claims 22 and 37 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus and method as claimed in claims 21 and 36 respectively, wherein the one or more of transmission configuration indicator states are contained in or associated with one or more transmission configuration indicator codepoints (Kim ¶0125- UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used to map up to 8 TCI states to a codepoint of a DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication).
As to claims 23 and 38 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus and method as claimed in claim 21 and 36 respectively, wherein the apparatus is further caused to receive information indicating activation of one or more of the transmission configuration indicator states contained in or associated with one or more transmission configuration indicator codepoints (Kim ¶0125 -UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used to map up to 8 TCI states to a codepoint ).
As to claims 24 and 39 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus and method as claimed in claims 20 and 35 respectively, wherein the information indicating that one or more of the plurality of indicators is to be changed from one of masked and unmasked to the other of masked and unmasked is provided by a downlink control information (Kim ¶0300- The reason for this is that after unmasking based on a CS-RNTI, a UE should identify whether DCI is DCI for activation or DCI for retransmission by reading a specific field).
As to claim 25 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the apparatus is further caused to receive information indicating if masking is applicable to one or more of the indicators (Kim ¶0153- 3rd sentence- a UE configured with an MTRP-eMBB transmission method is indicated with multiple TCI state(s) by DCI, and data received using a QCL RS of each TCI state are different TBs…... That is, when CRC masking of DCI received by a UE is performed using an RNTI configured for an MTRP-URLLC purpose, this may correspond to URLLC transmission, and when CRC masking of DCI is performed using an RNTI configured for an MTRP-eMBB purpose, this may correspond to eMBB transmission).
As to claim 26 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the information indicating if masking is applicable to one or more of the indicators is provided by downlink control information (Kim ¶0153- last sentence- That is, when CRC masking of DCI received by a UE is performed using an RNTI configured for an MTRP-URLLC purpose, this may correspond to URLLC transmission, and when CRC masking of DCI is performed using an RNTI configured for an MTRP-eMBB purpose, this may correspond to eMBB transmission).
As to claim 30 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the apparatus is caused to receive information about the plurality of indicators via downlink control information (Kim ¶0153- 2nd sentence-a UE configured with an MTRP-URLLC transmission method is indicated with multiple TCI state(s) by DCI, and data received using a QCL RS of each TCI state is the same TB. On the other hand, MTRP-eMBB may mean that M-TRPs transmit different TBs using different layers/time/frequencies. It may be assumed that a UE configured with an MTRP-eMBB transmission method is indicated with multiple TCI state(s) by DCI, and data received using a QCL RS of each TCI state are different TBs.).
As to claim 31 the combined teachings of Kim and Bae disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the apparatus is further caused to use one or more of the indicators, when unmasked, for a repeated transmission of an uplink channel Kim ¶0153- last sentence; Kim ¶0156- 1st sentence- the meaning that a UE repeatedly transmits the same PUSCH for reception by a plurality of base stations (i.e., MTRP) may mean that the same data is transmitted through a plurality of PUSCHs, and each PUSCH may be transmitted while being optimized for UL channels of different TRPs).
As to claim 34 Kim discloses an apparatus(Kim Fig. 8 and 11), comprising: at least one processor(Kim 202 of Fig. 11); and at least one memory including computer program code(Kim 204 of Fig.11, ¶0292- ¶0293); the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: cause information to be transmitted indicating that one or more of a plurality of indicators is to be changed- an indicator interpreted as a QCL- type-Kim ¶0118-A quasi co-location relationship is configured by a higher layer parameter qcl-Type1 for a first DL RS and qcl-Type2 for a second DL RS (if configured). For two DL RSs, a QCL type is not the same regardless of whether a reference is a same DL RS or a different DL RS. ¶0119- A QCL type corresponding to each DL RS is given by a higher layer parameter qcl-Type of QCL-Info and may take one of the following values. ¶0120 ‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}, ¶0125) wherein: the one or more indicators comprise one or more transmission configuration indicators Kim ¶0125-UE may receive an activation command by MAC CE signaling used to map up to 8 TCI states to a codepoint of a DCI field ‘Transmission Configuration Indication’);
Kim however is silent wherein the one or more of a plurality of indicators is to be changed from one of masked and unmasked to the other of masked and unmasked and when an indicator of the plurality of indicators is masked, configuration associated with the respective indicator is not used; and when an indicator of the plurality of indicators is unmasked, configuration associated with the respective indicator is usable. However, in an analogous art Bae remedies this deficiency:(Bae ¶0266- The CRC parity bit of DCI for DL SPS or configured grant transmission may be scrambled or masked by a CS-RNTI. ¶0298-¶0300- the UE may receive the DCI from a base station, and may identify the usage (whether the DCI is for activation DCI or for retransmission DCI) of the received DCI based on a specific field (e.g., NDI field). ¶0299- In order to support such an operation, a DCI field used for activation and retransmission in common may need to be positioned at least in a fixed position. ¶0300- The reason for this is that after unmasking based on a CS-RNTI, a UE should identify whether DCI is DCI for activation or DCI for retransmission by reading a specific field). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Kim with that of Bae for the purpose of using indicators for repeated transmission of an uplink channel when unmasked (Kim ¶0156- 2nd sentence).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27-29 and 32-33 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Go et al- Method and Device for Uplink Transmission and Reception in Wireless Communication System- US 20250038823, ¶0127, ¶0172, ¶0191- last sentence.
Matsumura et al – Terminal, Radio Communication, and Base Station- US 20230171611, ¶0094, ¶0181, ¶0182, ¶0209- last sentence.
Sun et al – Apparatus and Method for Group Based Reporting Beam Management- US 20230025057, ¶0054, ¶0055.
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/DERRICK V ROSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462