DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim 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(s) 7-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (Zhou), U.S. Publication No. 2021/0320699.
Regarding Claim 7, Zhou discloses a terminal (i.e., communications
device 1700; see figure 17) comprising:
a receiver (i.e., transceiver 1708; see figure 17) that receives downlink control
information (DCI) scheduling an aperiodic channel state information reference signal (A-CSI-RS) (i.e., the CSI report trigger for aperiodic CSI and semi-persistent CSI on PUSCH may be provided via downlink control information (DCI); see paragraph [0104]); and
a processor (i.e., processor 1704; see figure 17) that, when a value of a duration from reception of the DCI to reception of the A-CSI-RS is smaller than a threshold and a single frequency network (SFN) scheme (for example, SC-FDMA as described in paragraphs [0003] and [0093]) is used (i.e., if the scheduling offset between the DCI (e.g., DCI 405) that triggers a AP CSI report and the indicated AP CSI-RS resource set (e.g., for CSI-RS 410) is less than the UE reported threshold; see paragraph [0122]), and an other downlink signal with an indicated TCI state is present in a symbol for receiving the A-CSI-RS (i.e., if there is any other DL signal with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS; see paragraph [0122]), applies a quasi-co-location (QCL) assumption of the other downlink signal to the reception of the A-CSI-RS (i.e., the UE applies the QCL assumption of the other DL signal; see paragraph [0122]).
Zhou fails to specifically state when a higher layer parameter that enables two default transmission configuration indication (TCI) states is not configured as it pertains to the claim in its entirety. However, Zhou does disclose if there is no other DL signals with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS as described in paragraph [0134]. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Zhou’s invention for performing beam configuration selection as described in paragraph [0106].
Regarding Claim 10, Zhou discloses a radio communication method for a
terminal (i.e., communications device 1700; see figure 17), comprising:
receiving downlink control information (DCI) scheduling an aperiodic channel state information reference signal (A-CSI-RS) (i.e., the CSI report trigger for aperiodic CSI and semi-persistent CSI on PUSCH may be provided via downlink control information (DCI); see paragraph [0104]); and
when a value of a duration from reception of the DCI to reception of the A-CSI-RS is smaller than a threshold and a single frequency network (SFN) scheme (for example, SC-FDMA as described in paragraphs [0003] and [0093]) is used (i.e., if the scheduling offset between the DCI (e.g., DCI 405) that triggers a AP CSI report and the indicated AP CSI-RS resource set (e.g., for CSI-RS 410) is less than the UE reported threshold; see paragraph [0122]), and an other downlink signal with an indicated TCI state is present in a symbol for receiving the A-CSI-RS (i.e., if there is any other DL signal with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS; see paragraph [0122]), applying a quasi-co-location (QCL) assumption of the other downlink signal to the reception of the A-CSI-RS (i.e., the UE applies the QCL assumption of the other DL signal; see paragraph [0122]).
Zhou fails to specifically state when a higher layer parameter that enables two default transmission configuration indication (TCI) states is not configured as it pertains to the claim in its entirety. However, Zhou does disclose if there is no other DL signals with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS as described in paragraph [0134]. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Zhou’s invention for performing beam configuration selection as described in paragraph [0106].
Regarding Claim 11, Zhou discloses a base station (i.e., communications
device 1700; see figure 17) comprising:
a transmitter (i.e., transceiver 1708; see figure 17) that transmits downlink
control information (DCI) scheduling an aperiodic channel state information reference signal (A-CSI-RS) (i.e., the CSI report trigger for aperiodic CSI and semi-persistent CSI on PUSCH may be provided via downlink control information (DCI); see paragraph [0104]); and
a processor (i.e., processor 1704; see figure 17) that, when a value of a duration from reception of the DCI to reception of the A-CSI-RS is smaller than a threshold and a single frequency network (SFN) scheme (for example, SC-FDMA as described in paragraphs [0003] and [0093]) is used (i.e., if the scheduling offset between the DCI (e.g., DCI 405) that triggers a AP CSI report and the indicated AP CSI-RS resource set (e.g., for CSI-RS 410) is less than the UE reported threshold; see paragraph [0122]), and an other downlink signal with an indicated TCI state is present in a symbol for receiving the A-CSI-RS (i.e., if there is any other DL signal with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS; see paragraph [0122]), controlling transmission of the A-CSI-RS to which a quasi-co-location (QCL) assumption of the other downlink signal is applied (i.e., the UE applies the QCL assumption of the other DL signal; see paragraph [0122]).
Zhou fails to specifically state when a higher layer parameter that enables two default transmission configuration indication (TCI) states is not configured as it pertains to the claim in its entirety. However, Zhou does disclose if there is no other DL signals with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS as described in paragraph [0134]. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Zhou’s invention for performing beam configuration selection as described in paragraph [0106].
Regarding Claim 12, Zhou discloses a system comprising a terminal and a base
station, wherein
the terminal (i.e., communications device 1700; see figure 17) comprises:
a receiver (i.e., transceiver 1708; see figure 17) that receives downlink control information (DCI) scheduling an aperiodic channel state information reference signal (A-CSI-RS) (i.e., the CSI report trigger for aperiodic CSI and semi-persistent CSI on PUSCH may be provided via downlink control information (DCI); see paragraph [0104]); and
a processor (i.e., processor 1704; see figure 17) that, when a value of a duration from reception of the DCI to reception of the A-CSI-RS is smaller than a threshold and a single frequency network (SFN) scheme (for example, SC-FDMA as described in paragraphs [0003] and [0093]) is used (i.e., if the scheduling offset between the DCI (e.g., DCI 405) that triggers a AP CSI report and the indicated AP CSI-RS resource set (e.g., for CSI-RS 410) is less than the UE reported threshold; see paragraph [0122]), and an other downlink signal with an indicated TCI state is present in a symbol for receiving the A-CSI-RS (i.e., if there is any other DL signal with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS; see paragraph [0122]), applies a quasi-co-location (QCL) assumption of the other downlink signal to the reception of the A-CSI-RS (i.e., the UE applies the QCL assumption of the other DL signal; see paragraph [0122]), and
the base station (i.e., communications device 1700; see figure 17) comprises:
a transmitter (i.e., transceiver 1708; see figure 17) that transmits the DCI (i.e., the CSI report trigger for aperiodic CSI and semi-persistent CSI on PUSCH may be provided via downlink control information (DCI); see paragraph [0104]); and
a processor (i.e., processor 1704; see figure 17) that controls transmission of the A-CSI-RS to which the QCL assumption is applied (i.e., the UE applies the QCL assumption of the other DL signal; see paragraph [0122]).
Zhou fails to specifically state when a higher layer parameter that enables two default transmission configuration indication (TCI) states is not configured as it pertains to the claim in its entirety. However, Zhou does disclose if there is no other DL signals with an indicated TCI state in the same symbols as CSI-RS as described in paragraph [0134]. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to consider Zhou’s invention for performing beam configuration selection as described in paragraph [0106].
Regarding Claim 8, Zhou discloses wherein the other downlink signal is an A-CSI-RS that is scheduled using an offset larger than or equal to a second value (i.e., the other DL signal may be a PDSCH scheduled with offset larger than or equal to a time duration for QCL threshold (e.g., timeDurationForQCL); see paragraph [0109]) when the UE is provided with a parameter regarding beam switch timing (i.e., DCI codepoint; see paragraph [0109]) and reports a first value as the threshold (i.e., UE reported threshold (referred to as a beamSwitchTiming threshold); see paragraph [0109]).
Regarding Claim 9, Zhou discloses further comprising a transmitter that transmits UE capability information indicating support of application of the QCL assumption (see paragraph [0098]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHANTELL LAKETA HEIBER whose telephone number is (571)272-0886. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 9am to 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-7795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHANTELL L HEIBER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
February 6, 2026