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 .
Response to Amendment
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 08/19/2026 for response of the office action mailed on 05/19/2026.
Independent Claims 1, 19 and 20 and dependent Claims 7, 10, 12, 16 are amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Applicants’ amendments to the Specification and Claims have overcome each and every objection set forth in the office action mailed 05/19/2026.
In light of applicant’s amendments to Claims 1, 7, 10, 12, 16, 19 and 20, the rejection of Claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1-20, particularly independent Claims 1, 19 and 20 (filed 08/19/2026) have been fully 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 (line 15), Claim 19 (line 16) and Claim 20 (line 23), please spell out the acronyms SSB and PCI in the first mention, with the acronym identified in parenthesis, for clarity and consistency. For example, “SSB” should read - - - Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) - - - (or applicant’s applicable meaning for this source reference signal).
Claim 1 (line 16) “. . .additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI” should read - - “. . .the additional SSB using the PCI different from the serving cell PCI - -.
Claims 2-18 are objected to by virtue of their dependency (directly or indirectly) to Claim 1.
Claim 19 (line 2), “the apparatus” should read - - the activation apparatus - -.
Claim 19 (line 17), and Claim 20 (line 24), “. . .additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI” should read - - “. . .the additional SSB using the PCI different from the serving cell PCI - -.
Appropriate correction 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.
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 non-obviousness.
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.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NILSSON (‘529, previously cited) in view of Mukherjee et al. (US 20210176794 A1), hereinafter Mukherjee and Zhu et al. (US 20220046458 A1), hereinafter Zhu.
Regarding Claim 1,
NILSSON teaches an apparatus for adjusting uplink timing, configured in a terminal equipment (NILSSON, ¶0251 arrangements for UL timing adjustment for WDs/”terminal equipment” operating in multi-DCI multi-TRP operation; see also ¶0257, wireless device (WD), user equipment (UE), etc.), comprising:
obtaining processor circuitry (NILSSON, FIG. 8; FIG. 15, ¶0316, TA processor circuitry 34 of WD 22/ terminal equipment) obtaining a first timing advance (TA) value and a second TA value which are pre-configured or predefined or configured by a network device (NILSSON, FIG. 15, ¶0316, WD/ at S138 configured to obtain a first timing advance (TA) information/” first TA value” and a second TA information / “second TA value”; FIG. 16, ¶0329 illustrates the TA information is preconfigured by the network device and at S144, transmitted to the WD/”terminal equipment” ); and
adjusting processor circuitry (NILSSON, FIG. 8; FIG. 15, ¶0316, TA processor circuitry 34 of WD 22/terminal equipment) adjusting timing of first uplink transmission by using the first TA value and timing of second uplink transmission by using the second TA value (NILSSON, ¶0317, WD 22 such as by TA processor circuitry 34 . . . is configured to communicate or transmit or adjust uplink (UL) timing in the same serving cell using both the first TA information/”first TA value” and the second TA information/”second TA value”);
the first uplink transmission being transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via an intermediate device which includes TRP (Transmit/Receive Point) under inter-cell multi-DCI (Downlink Control Information) multi-TRP operation (NILSSON, ¶0361 in Multiple Transmit/Receive Point (multi-TRP) operation, a serving cell can schedule a WD 22/terminal equipment from two TRPs / “intermediate devices”, . . . with two different operation modes for multi-TRP: single-DCI and multi-DCI [and] for both modes, control of uplink and downlink operation may be performed by both physical layer and MAC; see also ¶0202, communication system connected via an intermediate connection to a host; ¶0261 [t]he signaling may also be directly to another node or via a third node). (see also NILSSON, ¶0259 the basic principles disclosed may also be applicable to the other of the one of the DL and the UL communication. In some embodiments in this disclosure, the principles may be considered applicable to a transmitter and a receiver. For DL communication, the network node is the transmitter, and the receiver is the WD. For the UL communication, the transmitter is the WD, and the receiver is the network node); and
NILSSON further teaches a receiver: receiving [configuration information] insert what it DOES receive] (NILLSON, FIG. 17; ¶0344, at S146, WD 22 such as by TA unit 34 in processing circuitry 84, processor 86 and/or radio interface 82, is configured to receive (Block S146) a configuration for the WD 22 to perform at least one timing advance (TA) action for first and second groups of uplink physical channels and reference signals ; see also Claim 31).
NILSSON does not explicitly teach receiving Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI; and TCI states associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI.
However, in the analogous art, Mukherjee discloses receiving Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI (Mukherjee, FIG. 3A, ¶0122 at 311 each cell/base station (¶0110) within multi-cell group transmits (to UE 207) a SSB-to-Multicell RO configuration, PCI values, and at least one PRACH configuration index; [and] FIG. 5A/5B, ¶0124, ¶0165 if different ROs are used for each different cell / “PCI different from serving PCI”, then the PRACH configuration indices that indicate time-frequency occurrences of each RO of each cell are indicated by higher-layer signaling in RACH-ConfigGeneric IE per cell; see also ¶0171 The PCIs of all cells are indicated by each cell as part of RACH-ConfigGeneric to enable cell-ID based slot descrambling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine NILSSON’s framework and signaling for multiple timing advance (multi-TA) for multiple transmission/reception points (mTRP) with Mukherjee’s apparatus and methods for multi-cell broadcast access channel utilization in a wireless network. The motivation would be to provide multi-cell random access mechanisms for a radio network [Mukherjee, ¶0003; ¶0014].
NILSSON and Mukherjee do not explicitly teach TCI states associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI.
Further, Zhu discloses TCI states associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI (Zhu, ¶0012, [the] UE includes a transceiver configured to receive first information for a physical cell identifier (PCI) different from a serving cell PCI and receive second information for source or measurement reference signals (RSs) for the PCI [and] configured to determine, based on one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states; FIG. 14, ¶0165, the non-serving (or neighboring) cell information including at least the PCI may be associated with the TCI state, e.g., the higher layer parameter TCI-State, indicating at least one non-serving (or neighboring) cell RS (e.g., one non-serving (or neighboring) cell SSB) as the QCL source R; see also FIG. 16 at 1601-1603, a SSB (re-)indexing rule for the fourth set of SSBs transmitted from/associated with/configured for one or more non-serving (or neighboring) cells/TRPs in the inter-cell system.; see also ¶0289, explicit non-serving (or neighboring) cell RS indication in TCI state/QCL information, wherein the TRP-specific index/ID value such as the PCI value, TRP ID value, CORESETPoolIndex value or other TRP-specific higher layer signaling index values is indicated in the higher layer parameter QCL-Info/TCI-State).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine NILSSON’s framework and signaling for multiple timing advance (multi-TA) for multiple transmission/reception points (mTRP) and Mukherjee’s apparatus and methods for multi-cell broadcast access channel utilization in a wireless network with Zhu’s method and apparatus for inter-cell downlink and uplink beam indication, measurement and reporting. The motivation would be to improve system throughput and reliability [Zhu, ¶0107].
Regarding Claim 2, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission respectively include one or any combination of Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) (NILSSON, ¶0018-0019,discloses in NR Release 17 (Rel-17), . . . , the UL TCI states can be configured either per UL channel/signal or per BWP such that the same UL TCI states can be used for PUSCH, PUCCH, and SRS; ¶0098 the WD adjusts uplink timing for PUSCH/SRS/PUCCH transmission on all the serving cells in the TAG based on a value N.sub.TA, offset that the WD expects to be same for all the serving cells in the TAG and based on the received timing advance command where the uplink timing for PUSCH/SRS/PUCCH transmissions is the same for all the serving cells in the TAG; ¶0145, each one of the first and second groups of uplink physical channels and reference signals is associated with one TCI state of the list of TCI states.).
Regarding Claim 3, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the intermediate device is configured with a third timing advance (TA) value by the network device (NILSSON, ¶0383, the synchronized TRP/ intermediate device is configured with a TA value by the NN 16 / “network device”, a “third TA value”); and
the apparatus further comprises: a transmitter (NILSSON, FIG. 9, ¶0283 radio interface 82 or TA processor circuitry 34 or WD 22; see also Fig. 17, ¶0344) transmitting the first uplink transmission based on the first timing advance (TA) value, the first uplink transmission being transmitted by the intermediate device to the network device based on the third timing advance (TA) value (NILSSON ¶0383, NN 16/network device may trigger (via the synchronized TRP) an SRS transmission to the out of sync TRP from the WD 22 and derive a TA based on the received SRS/third TA value at the out of sync TRP. The TA can be sent to the WD 22 via the synchronized TRP to be applied to signals transmitted to the out of sync TRP).
Regarding Claim 4, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the apparatus further comprises: a first receiver (NILSSON, FIG. 9, ¶0283, ¶0289 the radio interface 82 . . .which may include one or more RF receivers, or one or more RF transceivers) receiving an activation indication for activating the intermediate device transmitted by the network device (NILSSON, see also ¶0264 - ¶0265, [r]eceiving (or obtaining) control information may comprise receiving one or more control information messages (e.g., a parameter, index, etc.) [and] ¶0267, an indication (e.g., an indication of an index, a parameter, a table, etc.) generally may explicitly or implicitly indicate the information it represents or indicates. Implicit indication may for example be based on position or resource used for transmission / an “activation indication”).
Regarding Claim 5, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 4.
NILSSON further teaches the first receiver further receives a scheduling indication for scheduling the first uplink transmission transmitted by the network device; and when the scheduling indication is received, the adjusting processor circuitry, by using the first timing advance value, adjusts the timing of the first uplink transmission transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via the intermediate device (NILSSON, ¶0317, WD 22 such as by TA processor circuitry 34/”adjusting processor circuitry” . . . is configured to communicate or transmit or adjust uplink (UL) timing in the same serving cell using both the first TA information/”first TA value . . . ; ¶0361, a TRP/”intermediate device” may be a part of the network node 16 (e.g., gNB) transmitting and receiving radio signals to/from a WD 22 (e.g., UE) according to physical layer properties and parameters inherent to that element . . in multi-TRP operation, a serving cell can schedule a WD 22 (e.g., UE) from two TRPs, providing better PDSCH coverage (than typical systems), reliability or data rates . . . [and] [t]here may be two different operation modes for multi-TRP: single-DCI and multi-DCI).
Regarding Claim 6, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 4.
NILSSON further teaches a first processor circuitry FIG. 9, ¶0290 processing circuitry 84 of WD 22 further includes a processor 86) initializing or reinitialize a configured uplink grant (NILSSON, ¶0110, ¶0127 MAC entity of WD [may] clear any configured downlink assignments and configured uplink grants;);wherein the adjusting processor circuitry, by using the first timing advance value, adjusts the timing of the first uplink transmission on the configured uplink grant, the first uplink transmission being transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via the intermediate device (NILSSON, ¶0317, WD 22 such as by TA processor circuitry 34/”adjusting processor circuitry” . . . is configured to communicate or transmit or adjust uplink (UL) timing in the same serving cell using both the first TA information/”first TA value . . .).
Regarding Claim 7, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 4.
NILSSON further teaches the apparatus further comprises: a second processing processor circuitry configured to recover SRS configuration, or recover or transmit a PUCCH (NILSSON, FIG. 9, ¶0290 processing circuitry 84 of WD 22 further includes a processor 86¶0098, upon reception of a timing advance command for a TAG, the WD adjusts uplink timing for PUSCH/SRS/PUCCH transmission on all the serving cells in the TAG based . . . ).; wherein the adjusting processor circuitry, by using the first timing advance value, adjusts the timing of the first uplink transmission to which the SRS configuration corresponds or the timing of the first uplink transmission on the PUCCH, the first uplink transmission being transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via the intermediate device (¶0342, performing the at least one TA action by the WD 22 includes adjusting uplink transmission timing for the first and second group of uplink channels and reference signals (RSs) in the same serving cell based on the information about the first and the second TAGs, respectively; and transmitting the first and second group of uplink channels and reference signals using the adjusted uplink transmission timing; ¶0251, arrangements for UL timing adjustment for WDs operating in multi-DCI multi-TRP operation; ¶0361 a WD 22 (e.g., UE) is scheduled by independent DCIs from each TRP . . [and] a TRP may be represented by a SRS resource set, an SRI field in UL related DCI, or a TPMI field in UL related DCI).
Regarding Claim 8, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the apparatus further comprises:
a second receiver receiving a scheduling indication for scheduling the first uplink transmission, the scheduling indication being transmitted by the network device (NILSSON, FIG. 9, ¶0283, ¶0289 the radio interface 82 . . .which may include one or more RF receivers, or one or more RF transceivers) wherein when the scheduling indication is received, the adjusting processor circuitry, by using the first timing advance value, adjusts the timing of the first uplink transmission transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via the intermediate device (NILSSON, ¶0361, a TRP/” intermediate device” may be a part of the network node 16 (e.g., gNB) transmitting and receiving radio signals to/from a WD 22 (e.g., UE) according to physical layer properties and parameters inherent to that element. In some embodiments, in Multiple Transmit/Receive Point (multi-TRP) operation, a serving cell can schedule a WD 22 (e.g., UE) from two TRPs, providing better PDSCH coverage (than typical systems), reliability or data rates. There may be two different operation modes for multi-TRP: single-DCI and multi-DCI).
Regarding Claim 9, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the apparatus further comprises: a determining processor circuitry configured to determine whether to activate the intermediate device (NILSSON, FIG. 9 radio interface 82 of WD 22); wherein when the intermediate device is activated, the adjusting processor circuitry, by using the first timing advance value, adjusts the timing of the first uplink transmission transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via the intermediate device (NILSSON, the radio interface is further configured to transmit signaling associated with at least one of the first and second CORESET pool indices . . usable by the WD to determine the first TA reference timing for the first TAG associated with the first TRP/intermediate device).
Regarding Claim 10, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 9.
NILSSON further teaches the determining processor circuitry determines whether to activate the intermediate device based on a measurement result of a downlink reference signal from the network device or a downlink reference signal from the network device via the intermediate device or a downlink reference signal from the intermediate device, or the determining processor circuitry determines whether to activate the intermediate device based on a result of beam failure detection between the terminal equipment and the network device or based on whether to trigger beam failure recovery between the terminal equipment and the network device (NILSSON, including but not limited to ¶0305, network node 16 such as by determination processor circuitry 32 in processing circuitry 68, processor 70 or radio interface 62, is configured to communicate or receive or adjust uplink (UL) timing in the same serving cell for the WD using at least one of the first TA information and the second TA information; ¶0309, the first value is based on at least one of a propagation delay, a reference signal, and a timing measurement associated with a first network node/TRP).
Regarding Claims 11 and 12, the claims disclose similar features of Claims 6 and 7, respectively, and are rejected based on the same rationales of claims 6 and 7.
Regarding Claim 13, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1
NILSSON further teaches the first timing advance (TA) value is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message transmitted by the network device to the terminal equipment (NILSSON, ¶0304, the network node 16/network device . . ., is configured to obtain (FIG. 14 at S134) at least one of a first timing advance (TA) information and a second TA information for the WD/terminal equipment; ¶0311 and [0311] the association of the first and second values of the first parameter with the corresponding first and second TA information is at least one of: (i) configured via at least one a radio resource control (RRC) signaling).
Regarding Claim 14, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 13.
NILSSON further teaches the first timing advance (TA) value is included in at least one of the following configurations of the radio resource control (RRC) message: a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, a cell configuration, and an additional configuration (NILSSON, ¶0311, the association of the first and second values of the first parameter with the corresponding first and second TA information (first TA value) is at least one of: (i) configured via at least one a radio resource control (RRC) signaling; [and] ¶0323, the first and second values of the first parameter comprises at least one of: a first and second CORESET pool indices, a first and second bandwidth parts (BWPs)).
Regarding Claim 15, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the obtaining processor circuitry initiates to the network device a random access procedure related to the intermediate device (NILSSON, ¶0369, when the timing is aligned at the multiple TRPs and the timing differences among the TRPs at the WD 22 are caused by different propagation delays, one TA may be configured or signaled to the WD 22. The TA may be associated with one of multiple TRPs, e.g., an anchor TRP to which a RACH was sent; ¶0380, the network node 16 can trigger the WD 22 to transmit a PRACH towards the TRP/intermediate device that is not synchronized), and receives a random access response (RAR) transmitted by the network device, the first timing advance (TA) value being included in the random access response (FIG. 6, ¶0088, the MAC RAR is of fixed size as depicted in FIG. 6., and consists of the following fields: [0089] R: Reserved bit, set to “0”; ¶0090, Timing Advance Command: The Timing Advance Command field indicates the index value TA used to control the amount of timing adjustment that the MAC entity has to apply in TS 38.213. The size of the Timing Advance Command field is 12 bits)).
Regarding Claim 16, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 15.
NILSSON further teaches in the random access procedure related to the intermediate device, a random access preamble is transmitted on a physical random access channel (PRACH) related to the intermediate device, or, a random access preamble is related to the intermediate device (NILSSON, ¶0381, the network node (NN) 16 (e.g., gNB) can trigger the WD 22 to transmit a PRACH with a spatial filter that is associated (directly or indirectly) with one of the SSBs transmitted from that TRP / intermediate device).
Regarding Claim 17, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 1.
NILSSON further teaches the first timing advance (TA) value is included in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) transmitted by the network device to the terminal equipment (NILSSON, ¶0061, [t]iming advance updates are signalled by the gNB to the WD via MAC CE commands; ¶0311 the association of the first and second values of the first parameter with the corresponding first and second TA information is (ii) indicated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE)).
Regarding Claim 18, NILSSON and Mukherjee and Zhu teach claim 17.
NILSSON further teaches the first timing advance (TA) value is a relative TA value or an absolute TA value (NILSSON, ¶0316 first TA information is associated with a first value of a first parameter, interpreted as a relative TA value), and the media access control (MAC) control element (CE) further includes a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state identifier or a control resource pool identifier (CORSET pool ID) (NILSSON, [t]iming advance updates are signalled by the gNB to the WD via MAC CE commands; ¶0270 TA information may refer to any information associated with timing advance, e.g., a TA value, a TA parameter, a TA index, a CORESET, a CORSESET pool, a CORSESET pool index).
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kung (‘287, previously cited), in view of in view of Mukherjee et al. (US 20210176794 A1), hereinafter Mukherjee (‘794, cited in Claim 1 above) and Zhu (‘458, cited in Claim 1 above).
Regarding Claim 19,
Kung teaches an activation apparatus (Kung, Abstract, disclosed throughout; FIG. 3, device 300), configured in a terminal equipment (Kung, FIG. 3-4, from the perspective of a UE in a wireless communication system, a device 300), the apparatus comprising:
processor circuitry (Kung, FIG. 3, CPU, 308) that obtains a first TA value which is pre-configured or predefined or configured by a network device, and adjusts timing of first uplink transmission by using the first TA value, the first uplink transmission being transmitted by the terminal equipment to the network device via an intermediate device which includes TRP under inter-cell multi-DCI multi-TRP operation (Kung, FIG. 13, ¶0433, UE performing multi-TRP operation on different TRPs / “intermediate device(s)”, TRP1 and TRP2 [and] the network transmits an extended TAC MAC CE for providing TA command to the TRPs; ¶0471 the UE is configured with multi-TRP operation on the first TRP and the second TRP; ¶0476, the first or second TA information is a Timing Advance command for the first or second TRP); and
a receiver (Kung, FIG. 3, ¶0049 transceiver 314) receiving an activation indication transmitted by the network device, the activation indication including transmission configuration indication (TCI) state ID or control resource pool identifier (CORSET pool ID) corresponding to the intermediate device (Kung, UE based on the signaling /“the activation indication”, to obtain a first Time Alignment (TA) information associated with the first TRP, and performing multi-TRP operation on the first TRP associated with the first TA information; see also FIG. 16, ¶0470, at 1006, UE receiving, from the network, a signaling indicating activation for UL communication of the second TRP, “an activation indication”; see also FIG. 6, TCI State Indication for UE-Specific PDCCH MAC CE, ¶0275) . . .
Kung further teaches the receiver receives [network] configuration and performing RA procedures (Kung, FIG. 16, ¶0470 at 1002 a UE in a wireless communication system comprises receiving, from a network, a configuration configuring UL resource(s) associated with a first TRP and UL resource(s) associated with a second TRP, see also ¶0347).
Kung does not explicitly teach receiving Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI; and TCI states associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI.
However, in the analogous art, Mukherjee discloses receiving Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI (Mukherjee, mapping).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Kung’s method and apparatus for enhancing timing alignment for uplink (UL) multi-Transmission/Reception Point (TRP) (or mTRP) scenarios in a wireless communication system with Mukherjee’s apparatus and methods for multi-cell broadcast access channel utilization in a wireless network. The motivation would be to provide multi-cell random access mechanisms for a radio network [Mukherjee, ¶0003; ¶0014].
Kung and Mukherjee do not explicitly teach receiving TCI states associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI.
Further, Zhu discloses TCI states associated with additional SSB using PCI different from serving cell PCI (Zhu, ¶0012, [the] UE includes a transceiver configured to receive first information for a physical cell identifier (PCI) different from a serving cell PCI and receive second information for source or measurement reference signals (RSs) for the PCI [and] configured to determine, based on one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states; FIG. 14, ¶0165, the non-serving (or neighboring) cell information including at least the PCI may be associated with the TCI state, e.g., the higher layer parameter TCI-State, indicating at least one non-serving (or neighboring) cell RS (e.g., one non-serving (or neighboring) cell SSB) as the QCL source R; see also FIG. 16 at 1601-1603, a SSB (re-)indexing rule for the fourth set of SSBs transmitted from/associated with/configured for one or more non-serving (or neighboring) cells/TRPs in the inter-cell system.; see also ¶0289, explicit non-serving (or neighboring) cell RS indication in TCI state/QCL information, wherein the TRP-specific index/ID value such as the PCI value, TRP ID value, CORESETPoolIndex value or other TRP-specific higher layer signaling index values is indicated in the higher layer parameter QCL-Info/TCI-State).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Kung’s method and apparatus for enhancing timing alignment for uplink (UL) multi-Transmission/Reception Point (TRP) (or mTRP) scenarios in a wireless communication system and Mukherjee’s apparatus and methods for multi-cell broadcast access channel utilization in a wireless network with Zhu’s method and apparatus for inter-cell downlink and uplink beam indication, measurement and reporting. The motivation would be to improve system throughput and reliability [Zhu, ¶0107].
Regarding Claim 20, the claim discloses similar features of Claim 19 is rejected same rationales of Claim 19 (Kung, a communication system (Kung, FIG.1, FIG. 3, ¶0008 communication system), comprising: a terminal equipment (Kung, FiG. 1. access terminal / UE 116; FIG. 3, ¶0049 communication device 300); an intermediate device which includes TRP under inter-cell multi-DCI multi-TRP operation (Kung, first TRP [or second TRP] of multi-TRP, ¶0332 A User Equipment (UE) could perform communication with a cell of a network (e.g., gNB) via more than one TRP / “intermediate device); and a network device (Kung FIG. 1., access network (AN) 100; FIG. 2, ¶0037-0038 transmitter system 210/ access network).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACY L WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)270-7694. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:30-5:30. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached at 571-270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TRACY L WILLIAMS/Examiner, Art Unit 2429
/AYMAN A ABAZA/SPE, Art Unit 2429
