DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
4. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0089943 (hereinafter Yu).
Regarding claim 1, Yu discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system (disclosed is a method performed by a UE in a communication system, according to [0159], Fig. 3), the method comprising:
receiving a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the MAC CE maps transmission configuration indication (TCI) states to codepoints of a TCI field in downlink control information (DCI) (the UE receives a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), whereby said MAC CE activates a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state combination of a second TCI state combination, whereby the UE maps, based on the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination activated by the MAC CE, the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination to codepoints of a TCI field in downlink control information (DCI), according to [0161]-[0162], Fig. 3 [steps 304 and 306]);
receiving the DCI including the TCI field (the UE receives a DCI that includes the TCI field, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]);
identifying, based on the MAC CE, whether at least one of a first TCI state of the UE and a second TCI state of the UE is updated by a codepoint of the TCI field in the received DCI (the UE identifies whether the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination is activated by the MAC CE, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308], whereby activation of the first set of TCI states is for setting up PDSCH communications, and activation of the second set of TCI states is for setting up PDCCH communications, according to [0052]-[0053]); and
in case that one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is identified as updated by the codepoint:
updating the one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state that is identified as updated by the codepoint (one of the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination may be activated by the MAC CE, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]), and
keeping other of the first TCI state and the second TCI state that is identified as not updated by the codepoint (one of the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination may remain not activated by the MAC CE, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]).
Claim 7 recites the user equipment (UE), comprising a transceiver; memory storing one or more computer programs; and one or more processors operably coupled to the transceiver, and the memory, wherein the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that are executed by the one or more processors (the UE comprises a transceiver, a memory that stores computer-executable programs, and a processor that is coupled to the transceiver and the memory, that executes the programs stored in the memory, according to [0168]-[0170], [0175]-[0176], Fig. 4 [elements 400, 420, 428, 432, and 434]), that performs the method recited in claim 1, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, Yu discloses a method performed by a base station in a communication system (disclosed is a method performed by a base station in a communication system, according to [0159], Fig. 3), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the MAC CE maps transmission configuration indication (TCI) states to codepoints of a TCI field in downlink control information (DCI) (the base station transmits, to a UE, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), whereby said MAC CE activates a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state combination of a second TCI state combination, whereby the UE maps, based on the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination activated by the MAC CE, the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination to codepoints of a TCI field in downlink control information (DCI), according to [0161]-[0162], Fig. 3 [steps 304 and 306]);
transmitting, to the UE, the DCI including the TCI field (the base station transmits, to the UE, a DCI that includes the TCI field, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]); and
in case that one of a first TCI state of the UE and a second TCI state of the UE is updated by a codepoint of the TCI field in the transmitted DCI:
updating the one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state that is updated by the codepoint (one of the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination may be activated by the MAC CE, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]), and
keeping other of the first TCI state and the second TCI state that is not updated by the codepoint (one of the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination may remain not activated by the MAC CE, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]).
Claim 17 recites the base station, comprising a transceiver; memory storing one or more computer programs; and one or more processors operably coupled to the transceiver, and the memory, wherein the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that are executed by the one or more processors (the base station comprises a transceiver, a memory that stores computer-executable programs, and a processor that is coupled to the transceiver and the memory, that executes the programs stored in the memory, according to [0168]-[0170], [0175]-[0176], Fig. 4 [elements 400, 420, 428, 432, and 434]), that performs the method recited in claim 13, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 13.
Regarding claim 2, Yu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein each of the codepoints is mapped to (i) one TCI state for the one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state or (ii) two TCI states respectively for the first TCI state and the second TCI state (each TCI codepoint is associated with two TCI states [“wherein each of the codepoints is mapped to … (ii) two TCI states respectively for the first TCI state and the second TCI state”], according to [0113]).
Regarding claim 3, Yu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein in case that the codepoint is mapped to one TCI state for the one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state: the one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is updated as the one TCI state; and the other of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is kept (one of the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination may be activated by the MAC CE, while the other one of the first TCI state combination or the second TCI state combination may remain not activated by the MAC CE, according to [0163], Fig. 3 [step 308]).
Regarding claim 4, Yu discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via higher layer signaling, a configuration of a unified TCI state type indicating joint or separate, wherein in case that the configuration of unified TCI state type indicates joint: the TCI states are joint TCI states for uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) operation, and the first TCI state and the second TCI state are associated with the joint TCI states (the UE receives higher layer signalling that includes a joint DL/UL common beam indication and a separate DL/UL common beam indication, according to [0057]-[0060], [0167]).
Regarding claim 5, Yu discloses the method of claim 4, wherein in case that the configuration of unified TCI state type indicates separate: the TCI states include DL TCI states for the DL operation and UL TCI states for UL operation; the first TCI state is associated with the DL TCI states or the UL TCI states; and the second TCI state is associated with the DL TCI states or the UL TCI states (if the MAC CE indicates separate operation, then the TCI states may be DL or UL, according to [0057]-[0060], [0167]).
Regarding claim 6, Yu discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) for the DCI on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (the UE transmits a HARQ-ACK (which is transmitted via a PUCCH, according to [0100]) in response to the reception of the DCI, according to [0164], Fig. 3 [step 310]),
wherein the updating of the one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state and keeping of the other of the first TCI state and the second TCI state are applied starting from a first slot that is at least symbols corresponding to a beam application time after a last symbol of the PUCCH (the applying of the first TCI states or the second TCI states is done after the completion of the HARQ-ACK PUCCH transmission, according to [0166], Fig. 3 [step 314]).
Claims 8, 14, and 18 do not differ substantively from claim 2, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.
Claims 9, 15, and 19 do not differ substantively from claim 3, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 3.
Claims 10, 16, and 20 do not differ substantively from claim 4, and are therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 4.
Claim 11 does not differ substantively from claim 5, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 5.
Claim 12 does not differ substantively from claim 6, and is therefore rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW W GENACK whose telephone number is (571)272-7541. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy can be reached at 571-272-7795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW W GENACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645