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 communication is responsive to Application # 18681325 filed 02/05/2024. Claims 1-55 canceled. Claims 55-70 are subject to examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 61-65 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 61 recites “a BFR” in line 8. It is not clear whether this limitation is referring back to the BFR recited in line 4.
Claim(s) 62-65 are also rejected because they are dependent upon rejected claims 61 as set forth above and include limitations of the claims 61.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 56-59, 61-64, and 66-69 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by HARADA et al. (HARADA hereafter) (US 20240155387 A1).
Regarding claim 56 and claim 66, HARADA teaches, A method, performed by a terminal device, the method comprising:
receiving, from a network device, a first set of reference signals (RSs) and a second set of RSs for a serving cell for beam failure detection (HARADA; in FIG. 8, in step S101, the base station 200 (the communicator 210) that manages the cell 250 including N TRPs 201 transmits, to the UE 100, the RRC message including the BFD configuration list which is a list for configuring N BFD resource sets, Par. 0100; one cell includes a plurality of TRPs ... The TRP may be referred to as a panel or an antenna panel, Par. 0003);
performing a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, in a case where a beam failure is detected on at least one of the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs (HARADA; In step S451, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #0 associated with the TRP 201 #0 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission. In step S452, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #1 associated with the TRP 201 #1 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission, Par. 0161-0162); and
performing a random access procedure on the serving cell for beam failure recovery, in a case where a first BFR is triggered for the first set of RSs, a second BFR is triggered for the second set of RSs, and the BFR procedure is not successfully completed for any of the first set of RSs and the second set of RSs (HARADA; In step S455, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for all of the N BFD resource sets 521, and initiates the random access procedure for the cell 250 (SpCell) in response to the fact that no recovery for beam failure has occurred for any of the BFD resource sets 521, Par. 0165; Here, the UE 100 selects an appropriate beam (for example, the beam #1) for performing the BFR. When the random access procedure is completed, the BFR is completed, Par. 0070),
wherein a procedure other than the random access procedure is performed for beam failure recovery, in a case where a BFR is triggered for only one of the first set of RSs and the second set of RSs (HARADA; step 451, 452 Fig. 23; In response to the reception of the PDCCH, the controller 120 resets the count value (BFI_COUNTER_BFD_RS) associated with the one BFD resource set (BFD Resource Set) 521, considers that BFR has succeeded, Par. 0194; Here, the UE 100 selects a beam (for example, the beam #1) suitable for the SCell, and indicates the selected beam information together with information regarding the beam failure by the BFR MAC CE, Par. 0067).
Regarding claim 61, HARADA teaches, A method, performed by a network device, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a terminal device, a first set of reference signals (RSs) and a second set of RSs for a serving cell for beam failure detection (HARADA; in FIG. 8, in step S101, the base station 200 (the communicator 210) that manages the cell 250 including N TRPs 201 transmits, to the UE 100, the RRC message including the BFD configuration list which is a list for configuring N BFD resource sets, Par. 0100; one cell includes a plurality of TRPs ... The TRP may be referred to as a panel or an antenna panel, Par. 0003);
performing a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, in a case where a beam failure is on at least one of the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs (HARADA; In step S451, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #0 associated with the TRP 201 #0 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission. In step S452, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #1 associated with the TRP 201 #1 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission, Par. 0161-0162); and
performing a random access procedure on the serving cell for beam failure recovery, in a case where a first BFR is triggered for the first set of RSs, a second BFR is triggered for the second set of RSs, and a BFR procedure is not successfully completed for any of the first set of RSs and the second set of RSs (HARADA; In step S455, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for all of the N BFD resource sets 521, and initiates the random access procedure for the cell 250 (SpCell) in response to the fact that no recovery for beam failure has occurred for any of the BFD resource sets 521, Par. 0165; Here, the UE 100 selects an appropriate beam (for example, the beam #1) for performing the BFR. When the random access procedure is completed, the BFR is completed, Par. 0070),
wherein a procedure other than the random access procedure is performed for beam failure recovery, in a case where a BFR is triggered for only one of the first set of RSs and the second set of RSs (HARADA; step 451, 452 Fig. 23; In response to the reception of the PDCCH, the controller 120 resets the count value (BFI_COUNTER_BFD_RS) associated with the one BFD resource set (BFD Resource Set) 521, considers that BFR has succeeded, Par. 0194; Here, the UE 100 selects a beam (for example, the beam #1) suitable for the SCell, and indicates the selected beam information together with information regarding the beam failure by the BFR MAC CE, Par. 0067).
Regarding claim 57 and claim 67, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 56 and The terminal device of claim 66 respectively, wherein the beam failure is detected in a case where:
a beam failure indication for the at least one of the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs is received from lower layers (HARADA; the physical layer periodically outputs the beam failure instance indication to the MAC layer along with the BFD resource set identifier (bfd-ResourceSetId) of the BFD resource set, Par. 0119),
a beam failure indication counter for the at least one of the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs is incremented by 1 (HARADA; increments (that is, add 1 to) the counter corresponding to the BFD resource set identifier (bfd-ResourceSetId), Par. 0122), and
the beam failure indication counter is equal to or larger than a maximum beam failure counter for the at least one of the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs (HARADA; When the count value of the counter becomes greater than or equal to the specified number of times before the expiration of the timer, the MAC layer detects beam failure for the BFD resource set corresponding to the counter, Par. 0122).
Regarding claim 58 and claim 68, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 56 and The terminal device of claim 66 respectively, wherein the BFR procedure comprises at least one of:
triggering a BFR for the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs; or
transmitting a BFR medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) containing BFR information for the serving cell (HARADA; In step S451, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #0 associated with the TRP 201 #0 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission. In step S452, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #1 associated with the TRP 201 #1 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission, Par. 0161-0162).
Regarding claim 59 and claim 69, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 56 and The terminal device of claim 66 respectively, the method further comprising:
in a case where the serving cell is a secondary cell (SCell) and the SCell is deactivated (HARADA; As illustrated in FIG. 23, in a case where one or more BFD resource sets (BFD Resource Sets) 521 are configured for each serving cell for which BFD is configured (step S501), Par. 0168; in a case where the SCell is deactivated (step S519), Par. 0181),
setting a beam failure indication counter to 0 (HARADA; In step S520, the MAC entity sets (resets) the count value (BFI_COUNTER_BFD_RS) to 0, Par. 0182), and
considering the first beam failure recovery procedure and the second beam failure recovery procedure successfully completed and cancelling all the triggered BFRs for the serving cell (HARADA; In step S521, the MAC entity determines that BFR is successfully completed and cancels all triggered BFRs for the current BFD resource set (BFD Resource Set) 521, Par. 0183).
Regarding claim 62, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 61, wherein the beam failure is detected in a case where:
a beam failure indication counter is equal to or larger than a maximum beam failure counter for the at least one of the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs (HARADA; When the count value of the counter becomes greater than or equal to the specified number of times before the expiration of the timer, the MAC layer detects beam failure for the BFD resource set corresponding to the counter, Par. 0122).
Regarding claim 63, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 61, wherein the BFR procedure comprises at least one of:
receiving a BRF trigger for the first set of RSs or the second set of RSs; or
receiving a BFR medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) containing BFR information for the serving cell (HARADA; In step S451, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #0 associated with the TRP 201 #0 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission. In step S452, the UE 100 (the controller 120) detects beam failure for the BFD resource set 521 #1 associated with the TRP 201 #1 and initiates BFR with BFR MAC CE transmission, Par. 0161-0162).
Regarding claim 64, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 61, the method further comprising:
in a case where the serving cell is a secondary cell (SCell) and the SCell is deactivated (HARADA; As illustrated in FIG. 23, in a case where one or more BFD resource sets (BFD Resource Sets) 521 are configured for each serving cell for which BFD is configured (step S501), Par. 0168; in a case where the SCell is deactivated (step S519), Par. 0181),
a beam failure indication counter is set to 0 (HARADA; In step S520, the MAC entity sets (resets) the count value (BFI_COUNTER_BFD_RS) to 0, Par. 0182), and
the first beam failure recovery procedure and the second beam failure recovery procedure are considered to be successfully completed and all the triggered BFRs for the serving cell are cancelled (HARADA; In step S521, the MAC entity determines that BFR is successfully completed and cancels all triggered BFRs for the current BFD resource set (BFD Resource Set) 521, Par. 0183).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 60, 65, and 70 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HARADA in view of AGIWAL et al. (AGIWAL hereafter) (US 20220046441 A1).
Regarding claim 60, claim 65, and claim 70, HARADA teaches, The method of claim 59, The method of claim 64, and The terminal device of claim 69 respectively.
HARADA fails to explicitly teach,
wherein the beam failure indication counter is associated with a first beam failure indication counter for the first set of RSs and a second beam failure indication counter for the second set of RSs.
However, in the same field of endeavor, AGIWAL teaches,
wherein the beam failure indication counter is associated with a first beam failure indication counter for the first set of RSs and a second beam failure indication counter for the second set of RSs (AGIWAL; only one timer and counter is maintained per serving cell irrespective of number of TRPs in a serving cell, Par. 0493).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of HARADA to include the use of one counter per serving cell as taught by AGIWAL in order to perform beam failure detection (AGIWAL; Par. 0490).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Prior art teaches US 20230144010 A1 teaches in Fig. 3 that BFR will be tried based on different RSs and if not successful, contention-based RACH will be performed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARMIN CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-6419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached at 5712705630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416