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 amendment filed 06/24/2026 has been entered. Claims 16-19, 22, and 24-25 have been amended. Claims 36-47 are added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/24/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the arguments presented, namely that Tsai does not teach a method which will “select, for beam failure detection, the third RS and the sixth RS to the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the first RS and the fourth RS to the second beam failure detection reference signal set.” As can be seen in the below rejection, Tsai discloses the first BFD RS including the RSs from a first CORESET pool and the second BFD RS including the RSs from a second CORESET pool. While Tsai may not direct state which specific RSs are being used (i.e. specifically the third and sixth and the first and forth RS), Tsai clearly discloses these as possible RS sets that could be configured by the method of Tsai. Thus, these arguments are not persuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 44-45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by of Kwak et al. (US 2023/0144010), hereinafter Kwak.
Regarding Claim 44, Kwak teaches: An apparatus comprising at least one processing core, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processing core: “the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and/or other peripherals 138, among others” (Kwak ¶ 0037), cause the apparatus at least to: determine that the apparatus is configured for inter-cell beam management with a serving cell associated with a first physical cell identifier and another cell associated with a second physical cell identifier different from the first physical cell identifier: “FIG. 5 illustrates example inter-cell beam management and inter-cell handover” (Kwak ¶ 0115), “physical cell identities (PCIDs) may be interchangeably used with TRP IDs, panel IDs, CORESET group IDs, CORESET pool IDs and higher layer indexes” (Kwak ¶ 0135) and “The WTRU may determine one or more RSs in one or more TCI states associated to a first CORESET group (of the CORESET groups) as a first BFD-RS set, one or more RSs in one or more TCI states associated to a second CORESET group (of the CORESET groups) as a second BFD-RS set, and so on” (Kwak ¶ 0149); determine that active TCI states for control resource sets indicate reference signals associated with the first physical cell identifier and reference signals associated with the second physical cell identifier: “The WTRU may set RSs of multiple TCI states as RSs of a BFD resource. The WTRU may determine orders of the RSs of a BFD resource based on associations between the TCI states and CORESETs (e.g., based on CORESET pool IDs of the TCI states). For example, the WTRU may set an RS of a first of the multiple TCI states as a first RS of a BFD resource based on the first TCI state including (and/or being associated with) a first CORESET pool ID or no CORESET pool ID. The WTRU may set an RS of a second of the multiple TCI states as a second RS of the BFD resource based on the second TCI state including (and/or being associated with) a second CORESET pool ID” (Kwak ¶ 0423); select, for radio link monitoring, one or more qcl-TypeD reference signals: “the RS-indexes set q.sub.0 may include (e.g., periodic) CSI-RS resource indexes indicated by configured transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states (or by signaled TCI states IEs) for respective control resource sets (CORESETs) that the WTRU may use for monitoring physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmissions. For any of the TCI states in which two RS indexes are specified and/or indicated, the CSI-RS resource indexes indicated by such TCI states (or TCI states IEs) may correspond to the RS indexes having a quasi-colocation (QCL) type D (QCL-Type D) configuration” (Kwak ¶ 0087) associated with the first physical cell identifier configured for the serving cell, and not select, for radio link monitoring, a reference signal associated with the second physical cell identifier: “In various embodiments, the WTRU may determine one or more BFD-RS sets based on or using RSs (e.g., one or more RSs of one or more TCI states) that are associated to one or more CORESET groups. For example, the WTRU may determine one or more RSs in one or more TCI states associated to a first CORESET group (of the CORESET groups) as a first BFD-RS set, one or more RSs in one or more TCI states associated to a second CORESET group (of the CORESET groups) as a second BFD-RS set, and so on” (Kwak ¶ 0149); exclude, from a radio link monitoring reference signal set, one or more reference signals indicated by an active TCI state for a control resource set when the one or more reference signals are associated with the second physical cell identifier: “For joint BFR operation, a WTRU may be configured with a plurality of BFD-RS sets for multiple cells. In various embodiments, a prioritization among the plurality of BFD-RS sets may be used. For example, the WTRU may determine or use a first BFD-RS set (e.g., higher priority) and if the first BFD-RS set fails (e.g., quality of the first BFD-RS set is lower than a threshold), the WTRU may determine or use a second BFD-RS set (e.g., lower priority)” (Kwak ¶ 0285) and “a PCID associated with BFD-RS set. For example, BFD-RS set with lower PCID number may be a higher priority or has higher priority level” (Kwak ¶ 0290); and select, for beam failure detection, one or more reference signals associated with the first physical cell identifier to a first beam failure detection reference signal set and one or more reference signals associated with the second physical cell identifier to a second beam failure detection reference signal set: “For joint BFR operation, a WTRU may be configured with a plurality of BFD-RS sets for multiple cells. In various embodiments, a prioritization among the plurality of BFD-RS sets may be used. For example, the WTRU may determine or use a first BFD-RS set (e.g., higher priority) and if the first BFD-RS set fails (e.g., quality of the first BFD-RS set is lower than a threshold), the WTRU may determine or use a second BFD-RS set (e.g., lower priority)” (Kwak ¶ 0285) and “a PCID associated with BFD-RS set. For example, BFD-RS set with lower PCID number may be a higher priority or has higher priority level” (Kwak ¶ 0290) .
Regarding Claim 45, Kwak teaches: The apparatus according to claim 44, wherein a control resource set is associated with a physical cell identifier when the control resource set has an active TCI state indicating a reference signal associated with the physical cell identifier: “For joint BFR operation, a WTRU may be configured with a plurality of BFD-RS sets for multiple cells. In various embodiments, a prioritization among the plurality of BFD-RS sets may be used. For example, the WTRU may determine or use a first BFD-RS set (e.g., higher priority) and if the first BFD-RS set fails (e.g., quality of the first BFD-RS set is lower than a threshold), the WTRU may determine or use a second BFD-RS set (e.g., lower priority)” (Kwak ¶ 0285) and “a PCID associated with BFD-RS set. For example, BFD-RS set with lower PCID number may be a higher priority or has higher priority level” (Kwak ¶ 0290), and wherein a reference signal is associated with a physical cell identifier when the association is explicit using a synchronization signal block and the physical cell identifier or when the reference signal has a quasi co-location source associated with the physical cell identifier: “At least when the first and second signals are RSs, such association may exist when the WTRU is configured with a QCL type D between corresponding antenna ports. Such association may be configured as a TCI state. A WTRU may be informed of an association between a CSI-RS or SSB and a DM-RS by indicating a TCI state index of a set of TCI states configured by RRC and/or signaled by MAC CE. The indication of the TCI state index may also be referred to as a “beam indication”” (Kwak ¶ 0133).
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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 nonobviousness.
Claims 16-18, 24-25, 29, and 36-42 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Tsai et al. (US 2022/0295589), hereinafter Tsai.
Regarding Claim 16, Tsai teaches: An apparatus comprising at least one processing core, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processing core: “the example WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad/indicators 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and other peripherals 138. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements” (Tsai ¶ 0248), cause the apparatus at least to: determine that the apparatus is configured with a first beam failure detection reference signal set and a second beam failure detection reference signal set: “UE 200 may be explicitly configured with one or multiple failureDetectionResources sets q.sub.0,i,k i=1 . . . M.sub.k, M.sub.k 1 in a (active) BWP and candidateBeamRSList q.sub.1,i,k i=1 . . . M.sub.k for radio link quality measurements to support beam failure detection (BFD) with multiple TRPs transmission on a component carrier (CC) k, k=1, . . . , N.sub.max, respectively, where M.sub.k denotes the maximum number of links (from different TRP or a same TRP) may be simultaneously supported at a component carrier (CC) k and where N.sub.max denotes the maximum number supported CCs” (Tsai ¶ 0072); determine that the apparatus is configured or activated with: a first control resource set associated with a first control resource set pool index value: “In some cases, the number of sets offailureDetectionResources on a BWP on serving cell/CC k, M.sub.k, may be equal to the number of different CORESET pools in the BWP, e.g. the number of different values of CORESETPoolIndex in ControlResourceSet included in higher layer parameter PDCCH-Config” (Tsai ¶ 0080) and with a first Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state indicating a first Reference Signal (RS) and a second TCI state indicating a second RS: “if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The set of CORESETs may correspond to a CORESET pool index, e.g. index 0 or index 1, which may be configurable” (Tsai ¶ 0086); a second control resource set associated with the first control resource set pool index value and with one TCI state indicating a third RS: “If the number of explicitly configured sets of RS, e.g. by using multiple lists or by configuring set indices per RS for BFD, is less than the configured M.sub.k, then UE 200 may use both explicitly configured BFD RS and implicitly configured BFD RS. The implicitly configured BFD RS may be determined from a TCI states of a subset of the CORESETs on the BWP, for example the CORESETs corresponding to a subset of the CORESET pool indices” (Tsai ¶ 0085); a third control resource set associated with a second control resource set pool index value and with a first TCI state indicating a fourth RS and a second TCI state indicating a fifth RS: “If UE 200 is not provided any failureDetectionResources, (e.g., implicit configuration for BFD) at a CC k then UE 200 may determine the failureDetectionResources set q.sub.0,i,k, i=1 . . . M.sub.k at a CC k to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-state for respective CORESETs that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH. In this case, each set for q.sub.0,i,k (index i) at a CC k may be associated with a CORESET identification (controlResourceSetId ID e.g. j) via TCI-state to indicate corresponding CSI-RS or SSB when UE is not provided any failureDetectionResources from higher layers” (Tsai ¶ 0087); and a fourth control resource set associated with the second control resource set pool index value and with one TCI state indicating a sixth RS: “UE 200 determines the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets configured or indicated (e.g. by RRC or MAC CE) by TCI-State for respective CORESETs with coresetPoolIndex-r16 equal to p1 (p1 (≠p0) may be 1 or 0) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states” (Tsai ¶ 0088 and Fig. 9 below); and select, for beam failure detection, the third RS and the sixth RS to the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the first RS and the fourth RS to the second beam failure detection reference signal set: “At step 212, a first set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a first CORESET pool. At step 213, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the first set of BFD RS. At step 214, a second set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a second CORESET pool. At step 215, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the second set of BFD RS” (Tsai ¶ 0089) and “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097). In other words, Tsai discloses the first BFD RS including the RSs from a first CORESET pool and the second BFD RS including the RSs from a second CORESET pool. While Tsai may not direct state which specific RSs are being used (i.e. specifically the third and sixth and the first and forth RS), Tsai clearly discloses these as possible RS sets that could be configured by the method of Tsai.
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Regarding Claim 17, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the third RS and the sixth RS are selected to the first beam failure detection reference signal set based on being indicated by TCI states of control resource sets associated with one TCI state across the first and second control resource set pool index values: “In one example, a first set of BFD RS is explicitly configured, but M.sub.k=2. A second set of BFD RS is implicitly determined to include RS indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for a set of CORESETs that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states” (Tsai ¶ 0086), and wherein the first RS and the fourth RS are selected to the second beam failure detection reference signal set based on being indicated by active TCI states of control resource sets associated with more than one TCI state across the first and second control resource set pool index values: “If the number of explicitly configured sets of RS, e.g. by using multiple lists or by configuring set indices per RS for BFD, is less than the configured M.sub.k, then UE 200 may use both explicitly configured BFD RS and implicitly configured BFD RS. The implicitly configured BFD RS may be determined from a TCI states of a subset of the CORESETs on the BWP, for example the CORESETs corresponding to a subset of the CORESET pool indices” (Tsai ¶ 0085).
Regarding Claim 18, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set constitute more than one failure detection resource set configured for the apparatus: “At step 212, a first set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a first CORESET pool. At step 213, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the first set of BFD RS. At step 214, a second set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a second CORESET pool. At step 215, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the second set of BFD RS” (Tsai ¶ 0089) and “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 24, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further caused at least to: determine that the first and third control resource sets are at least two first control resource sets configured or activated with at least two TCI states and the second and fourth control resource sets are at least two second control resource sets configured or activated with one TCI state: “At step 212, a first set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a first CORESET pool. At step 213, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the first set of BFD RS. At step 214, a second set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a second CORESET pool. At step 215, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the second set of BFD RS” (Tsai ¶ 0089); and select RSs of the at least two second control resource sets to the first beam failure detection reference signal set and select one RS per each of the at least two first control resource sets to the second beam failure detection reference signal set: “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097)
Regarding Claim 25, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein each of the first RS, the second RS, the third RS, the fourth RS, the fifth RS, and the sixth RS is a downlink RS, and wherein each of the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set is a Beam Failure Detection RS set. the RS is a downlink RS, and the failure detection resource set is a Beam Failure Detection RS set: “At step 212, a first set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a first CORESET pool. At step 213, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the first set of BFD RS. At step 214, a second set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a second CORESET pool. At step 215, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the second set of BFD RS” (Tsai ¶ 0089) and “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097), and “Information indicating the RS antenna port(s) is indicated via DCI (downlink grants). The information indicates the RS antenna port(s) which is QCL-ed with DM-RS antenna port(s). Different set of DM-RS antenna port(s) for the DL data channel may be indicated as QCL with different set of RS antenna port(s)” (Tsai ¶ 0066)
Regarding Claim 29, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the apparatus is a user equipment or a control device controlling the user equipment: “it is understood that with the wide variety of use cases contemplated for 5G wireless communications, each WTRU may comprise or be embodied in any type of apparatus or device configured to transmit or receive wireless signals, including, by way of example only, user equipment (UE)” (Tsai ¶ 0192).
Regarding Claim 36, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first beam failure detection reference signal set consists of the third RS and the sixth RS, and wherein the second beam failure detection reference signal set consists of the first RS and the fourth RS: “At step 212, a first set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a first CORESET pool. At step 213, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the first set of BFD RS. At step 214, a second set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a second CORESET pool. At step 215, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the second set of BFD RS” (Tsai ¶ 0089) and “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 37, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further caused to select, for radio link monitoring, a radio link monitoring reference signal set comprising the first RS, the third RS, the fourth RS, and the sixth RS: “A UE may be configured for each DL BWP of a Special Cell (SpCell), e.g., primary cell (PCell) or primary secondary (PSCell) with a set of resource indexes, through a corresponding set of RadioLinkMonitoringRS, for radio link monitoring by failureDetectionResources. The UE is provided a CSI-RS resource configuration index, by csi-RS-Index, or a SS/PBCH block index, by ssb-Index. The UE may be configured with up to N.sub.LR_RLM RadioLinkMonitoringRS for link recovery procedures, and for radio link monitoring. From the N.sub.LR_RLM RadioLinkMonitoringRS, up to N.sub.RLM RadioLinkMonitoringRS may be used for radio link monitoring depending on a maximum number L.sub.max of candidate SS/PBCH blocks per half frame, and up to two RadioLinkMonitoringRS may be used for link recovery procedures” (Tsai ¶ 0055) and “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 38, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein, when the apparatus is configured with control resource sets associated with one active TCI state and with two active TCI states for respective control resource sets, the apparatus includes one RS per each control resource set in the radio link monitoring reference signal set: “At step 212, a first set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a first CORESET pool. At step 213, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the first set of BFD RS. At step 214, a second set of BFD RS may be implicitly determined from RS in TCI states for CORESET(s) in a second CORESET pool. At step 215, UE 200 may perform BFD based on the second set of BFD RS” (Tsai ¶ 0089) and “UE 200 can determine the set q.sub.0,1,k (index i=1) to include periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for respective CORESET(s) of a second set of CORESET(s) that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set q.sub.0,1,k includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states. The second set of CORESET(s) may be the CORESET(s) in the active DL BWP on serving cell/CC k with the same CORESET pool index, but different from index associated with the first set of CORESET(s), e.g. CORESETPoolIndex 1” (Tsai ¶ 0097).
Regarding Claim 39, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein: implicit selection of the radio link monitoring reference signal set is configured independently: “Radio link monitoring in Rel-15—A UE may be configured for each DL BWP of a Special Cell (SpCell), e.g., primary cell (PCell) or primary secondary (PSCell) with a set of resource indexes, through a corresponding set of RadioLinkMonitoringRS, for radio link monitoring by failureDetectionResources. The UE is provided a CSI-RS resource configuration index, by csi-RS-Index, or a SS/PBCH block index, by ssb-Index. The UE may be configured with up to N.sub.LR_RLM RadioLinkMonitoringRS for link recovery procedures, and for radio link monitoring” (Tsai ¶ 0055) from beam failure detection reference signal selection: “In NR, there are two configuration options that UE 200 can be configured for beam failure detection (BFD). In the first option, it is based on the explicit configuration method which when the higher layers (e.g. RRC) provides the reference signal (RS, e.g. CSI-RS) resources for UE 200 to perform BFD. In a second option, it is based an implicit configuration method, i.e. there is no explicit RS resources being provided for UE 200 to perform BFD. Therefore, the implicit method can be referred as the UE determines RS for BFD based on the the TCI states for respective control resource sets that the UE uses for monitoring PDCCH for a particular radion link i for a CC k. Implicit and explicit methods have been defined in NR. This is prior but it is extended herein to multi-links case, cell aggregation case, and the like” (Tsai ¶ 0070).
Regarding Claim 40, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein more than one control resource set pool index value is configured, and the apparatus selects a radio link monitoring reference signal based on a control resource set pool index value with which a control resource set numbered 0 is associated: “For L.sub.max=4, the UE selects the N.sub.RLM RS provided for active TCI states for PDCCH receptions in CORESETs associated with the search space sets in an order from the shortest monitoring periodicity.” (Tsai ¶ 0056), this would include the CORESET with the index of 0 as that would be the “first” CORESET.
Regarding Claim 41, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein, when two quasi co-location source RSs are indicated by one TCI state, the apparatus selects an RS that provides a qcl-TypeD source in the TCI state, and when two TCI states are activated for a control resource set and each of the two TCI states has two quasi co-location source RSs, the apparatus selects a qcl-TypeD RS per respective TCI state: “n one example, a first set of BFD RS is explicitly configured, but M.sub.k=2. A second set of BFD RS is implicitly determined to include RS indexes with same values as the RS indexes in the RS sets indicated by TCI-State for a set of CORESETs that UE 200 uses for monitoring PDCCH and, if there are two RS indexes in a TCI state, the set includes RS indexes with QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI states” (Tsai ¶ 0086).
Regarding Claim 42, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein a maximum number of beam failure detection reference signals is applied per beam failure detection reference signal set: “UE 200 may be explicitly configured with one or multiple failureDetectionResources sets q.sub.0,i,k i=1 . . . M.sub.k, M.sub.k 1 in a (active) BWP and candidateBeamRSList q.sub.1,i,k i=1 . . . M.sub.k for radio link quality measurements to support beam failure detection (BFD) with multiple TRPs transmission on a component carrier (CC) k, k=1, . . . , N.sub.max, respectively, where M.sub.k denotes the maximum number of links (from different TRP or a same TRP) may be simultaneously supported at a component carrier (CC) k” (Tsai ¶ 0072) or collectively across the first and second beam failure detection reference signal sets.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai as applied to claim 16 above and further in view of Bai et al. (US 11,652,530), hereinafter Bai.
Regarding Claim 19, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16.
Tsai does not teach: the apparatus is further caused at least to select a maximum number of RSs to at least one of the first beam failure detection reference signal set or the second beam failure detection reference signal set.
Regarding Claim 19, Bai teaches: the apparatus is further caused at least to select a maximum number of RSs to at least one of the first beam failure detection reference signal set or the second beam failure detection reference signal set: “the set of beam failure detection reference signals is selected further based on a maximum quantity of beam failure detection reference signals” (Bai Claim 25).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the disclosure of Tsai with Bai for the purpose of improving cell reference signal selection rules. According to Bai: “Based at least in part on using the set of secondary cell reference signal selection rules, the UE enables secondary cell beam failure detection reference signal selection in cases where primary cell reference signal selection rules result in ambiguity when applied to secondary cells. In this way, the UE increases a reliability of communications with the BS relative to only detecting beam failures on primary cells using beam failure detection reference signals selected based at least in part on primary cell reference signal selection rules” (Col 9 Line 61 to Col 10 Line 3).
Claims 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai as applied to Claim 16 and further in view of Kwak.
Regarding Claim 22, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16.
Tsai does not teach: the apparatus is further caused at least to: determine that the apparatus is configured with more than one failure detection resource set; wherein the more than one failure detection resource set comprises the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set.
Regarding Claim 22, Kwak teaches: the apparatus is further caused at least to: determine that the apparatus is configured with more than one failure detection resource set: “In various embodiments, the WTRU may be configured with a first BFD-RS set (e.g., q.sub.0,1) and a second BFD-RS set (e.g., q.sub.0,2) to support two cells that may be configured for any of single cell and multiple cell modes of operation. The first BFD-RS set (e.g., q.sub.0,1) may be associated with a serving cell. The second BFD-RS set (e.g., q.sub.0,2) may be associated with a non-serving cell” (Kwak ¶ 0143); wherein the more than one failure detection resource set comprises the first beam failure detection reference signal set and the second beam failure detection reference signal set: “If each TCI state associated with a BFD-RS set, an NCB-RS set, an UL resource set and one or more CORESETs associated with search space set includes at most one PCID (i.e., a single PCID or no PCID), the WTRU may consider such condition as an indication of a second mode of operation (e.g., single-cell BFR)” (Kwak ¶ 0194) and “Herein, physical cell identities (PCIDs) may be interchangeably used with TRP IDs, panel IDs, CORESET group IDs, CORESET pool IDs and higher layer indexes” (Kwak ¶ 0135).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the disclosure of Tsai with Kwak for the purpose of enabling mobility between multiple beams. According to Kwak: “Beam management may enable mobility between the multiple beams with a lightweight process that does not require RRC reconfiguration. BFR may support a dynamic recovery mechanism when the beams at a base station and a WTRU become misaligned. However, when mobility between multiple cells is needed, L1 and/or L2 based beam management and BFR are not supported and mobility between multiple cells requires a handover procedure with RRC reconfiguration that requires a large amount of signaling overhead and increases latency. In order to reduce the overhead and the latency, L1/L2 based inter-cell mobility may be considered” (Kwak ¶ 0108).
Claims 43 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai as applied to Claim 16 and further in view of Kyung et al. (US 2024/0072878), hereinafter Kyung.
Regarding Claim 43, Tsai teaches: The apparatus according to claim 16.
Tsai does not teach: selected reference signals included in at least one of the first beam failure detection reference signal set or the second beam failure detection reference signal set have different source synchronization signal blocks.
Regarding Claim 43, Kyung teaches: selected reference signals included in at least one of the first beam failure detection reference signal set or the second beam failure detection reference signal set have different source synchronization signal blocks: “In a first novel aspect, a set of reference signals (RSs) for BFD is configured for each BWP of a serving cell, and a maximum number of BFD RSs (N) per TRP for each BWP of a serving cell is configured. In a second novel aspect, for single DCI multi-TRP, the BFD RSs can be updated via MAC CE to reduce latency. In a third novel aspect, new RRC parameters for BFD RSs and candidate beam RSs are configured, with different sets of SSB/CSI-RS resources associated to each TRP” (Kyung ¶ 0020).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the disclosure of Tsai with Kyung for the purpose of enabling multi TRP BFR. According to Kyung: “when multiple TRPs exist in the system, UE needs to support BFR for multi-TRP. If one of the TRPs failed, BFR is performed per-TRP by using the reliable link to other TRPs. A unified solution to support all PCell, SCell, and per-TRP based BFR is desired, with less standard impact and reduced latency” (Kyung ¶ 0005).
Claims 46-47 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al. (US 2023/0164865), hereinafter Kang further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2023/0046074), hereinafter Zhang
Regarding Claim 46, Kang teaches: An apparatus comprising at least one processing core, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processing core: “an operation that UE (100 or 200 in FIG. 11) in the above-described stage S115 receives the configuration information from a network side (200 or 100 in FIG. 11) may be implemented by a device in FIG. 11 which will be described after. For example, in reference to FIG. 11, at least one processor 102 may control at least one transceiver 106 and/or at least one memory 104” (Kang ¶ 0271), cause the apparatus at least to: determine that two active TCI states for a control resource set indicate two reference signals and that fewer than both of the two reference signals are to be selected to avoid exceeding a maximum number of beam failure detection reference signals: “Based on the number of TCI states configured for at least one COREST included in the first CORESET group or the second CORESET group being more than the maximum number included in the capability information (that is, the maximum number of BFD-RSs), a BFD-RS corresponding to a TCI state to be included in the first BFD-RS set or the second BFD-RS set may be determined based on a monitoring periodicity of a search space corresponding to each of at least one CORESET” (Kang ¶ 0242); elect, from the two reference signals, a reference signal having a shorter periodicity: “For example, the BFD-RS corresponding to the TCI state set in the CORESET having the shortest monitoring period of the search space among at least one CORESET may be preferentially included in the first BFD-RS set or the second BFD-RS set” (Kang ¶ 0243); select, when the two reference signals have equal periodicity, a reference signal having a lower codepoint index: “and the BFD-RS corresponding to the TCI state configured in the CORESET having the smallest index value among at least one CORESET may be determined to be preferentially included in the first BFD-RS set or the second BFD-RS set” (Kang ¶ 0248).
Kang does not teach: select at least one reference signal per each control resource set according to an ascending or descending order of control resource set index values within the same control resource set pool index value or across control resource set pool index values until the maximum number of beam failure detection reference signals is selected for a current active downlink bandwidth part.
Regarding Claim 46, Zhang teaches: select at least one reference signal per each control resource set according to an ascending or descending order of control resource set index values within the same control resource set pool index value or across control resource set pool index values until the maximum number of beam failure detection reference signals is selected for a current active downlink bandwidth part: “when the first-type CORESET is determined according to the sequence of keeping each CORESET group index unchanged and the priority of each CORESET in each CORESET group in descending order and then keeping each CORESET group index in ascending order, reference signals in the beam failure detection reference signal set correspond to more than one CORESET group. In this case, each CORESET in each CORESET group can be sorted by priority. First, each CORESET group index is kept unchanged (that is, the level of each CORESET group is unchanged) and the priority of each CORESET in each CORESET group is in descending order. Then each CORESET group index is in ascending order. Accordingly, CORESETs are selected in this sequence. That is, after a CORESET is first selected from one CORESET group, then a CORESET is selected from the next CORESET group. Then beam failure detection reference signals are determined according to the selected CORESETs” (Zhang ¶ 0102).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Kang with Zhang for the purpose of reducing terminal detection complexity. According to Zhang: “Accordingly, in the case of a large number of CORESETs or frequency domain bandwidths, the problem of how to reduce the complexity of terminal detection, to perform beam failure recovery rapidly, and to improve the robustness of a link is solved and the problem of how to guarantee the complexity of terminal detection and perform effective radio link detection is solved” (Zhang ¶ 0004).
Regarding Claim 47, Kang teaches: The apparatus according to claim 46.
Kang does not teach: the apparatus starts selection from a lowest control resource set index value and, when the apparatus is configured with three control resource sets having index values 1, 2, and 3 and the maximum number of beam failure detection reference signals is two, selects reference signals from the control resource sets having index values 1 and 2.
Regarding Claim 47, Zhang teaches: the apparatus starts selection from a lowest control resource set index value and, when the apparatus is configured with three control resource sets having index values 1, 2, and 3 and the maximum number of beam failure detection reference signals is two, selects reference signals from the control resource sets having index values 1 and 2: “when the first-type CORESET is determined according to the sequence of keeping each CORESET group index unchanged and the priority of each CORESET in each CORESET group in descending order and then keeping each CORESET group index in ascending order, reference signals in the beam failure detection reference signal set correspond to more than one CORESET group. In this case, each CORESET in each CORESET group can be sorted by priority. First, each CORESET group index is kept unchanged (that is, the level of each CORESET group is unchanged) and the priority of each CORESET in each CORESET group is in descending order. Then each CORESET group index is in ascending order. Accordingly, CORESETs are selected in this sequence. That is, after a CORESET is first selected from one CORESET group, then a CORESET is selected from the next CORESET group. Then beam failure detection reference signals are determined according to the selected CORESETs” (Zhang ¶ 0102).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the disclosure of Kang with Zhang for the purpose of reducing terminal detection complexity. According to Zhang: “Accordingly, in the case of a large number of CORESETs or frequency domain bandwidths, the problem of how to reduce the complexity of terminal detection, to perform beam failure recovery rapidly, and to improve the robustness of a link is solved and the problem of how to guarantee the complexity of terminal detection and perform effective radio link detection is solved” (Zhang ¶ 0004).
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.
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/B.D.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/BRADLEY D LYTLE JR./Examiner, Art Unit 2473
/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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