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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 2/28/2024.
Claims 1-3, 5 and 7 are amended.
Claims 4, 6, 8-60 are cancelled.
Claims 61-75 are new.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7 and 61-75 have been examined and rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS filed on 3/19/2024, 4/17/2025 and 10/30/2025 have been considered.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5, 61-64, 66-69, 71-74 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsai (US 2020/0107352 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Tsai discloses a method in a wireless device (WD), configured to communicate with a network node, the method (see FIG. 9) comprising:
receiving at least one of an activation command and an indication for a first and second transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state out of a plurality of TCI states (see paras 69-70, the UE receives configuration information of multiple transmission configuration indication (TCI) states transmitted from a base station in a wireless communications network. At step S920, the process receives one or more activation commands that associate a first subset of the configured TCI states with one or more codepoints of a TCI field and a second subset of the configured TCI states with the one or more codepoints of the TCI field), each of the first and second TCI states including quasi co-location (QCL) information for at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission of a plurality of at least one of physical channels and reference signals by the WD (see paras 72-73, the process determines at least one first quasi co-located (QCL) assumption according to the first TCI state and at least one second QCL assumption according to the second TCI state. Then the process proceeds to step S950. At step S950, the process receives a downlink transmission based on the at least one first QCL assumption and the at least one second QCL assumption); and
receiving an association of each of a plurality of reference signals with one of the first and second TCI states (see para 71, At step S930, the process receives a codepoint of the TCI field that is associated with a first TCI state in the first subset of the configured TCI states and a second TCI state in the second subset of the configured TCI states).
Regarding Claims 2, 62, 67, 72, Tsai discloses: the activation command is a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) command to activate a subset of TCI states from the plurality of TCI states (see para 55, a TCI state activation/deactivation command can be identified by a logical control identification (LCID) included in a sub header of a MAC-CE).
Regarding Claims 3, 63, 68, 73, Tsai discloses: the indication is sent in downlink control information (DCI) format when there are more than two TCI states activated by the first MAC CE command (see para 55, a TCI state activation/deactivation command can be identified by a logical control identification (LCID) included in a sub header of a MAC-CE; and at para 77, one activation command associates the first subset of the configured TCI states to the one or more codepoints of the TCI field in DCI and the second subset of the configured TCI states to the one or more codepoints).
Regarding Claims 5, 64, 69, 74, Tsai discloses: each of the plurality of reference signals can be one of a downlink channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) (see para 40, The RS can be, for example, a channel station information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB))
Regarding Claim 61, Tsai discloses a wireless device (WD), configured to communicate with a network node, the WD comprising: processing circuitry configured to:
receive at least one of an activation command and an indication for a first and second unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state out of a plurality of TCI states (see paras 69-70, the UE receives configuration information of multiple transmission configuration indication (TCI) states transmitted from a base station in a wireless communications network. At step S920, the process receives one or more activation commands that associate a first subset of the configured TCI states with one or more codepoints of a TCI field and a second subset of the configured TCI states with the one or more codepoints of the TCI field), each of the first and second TCI states including quasi co-location (QCL) information for at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission of a plurality of at least one of physical channels and reference signals by the WD (see paras 72-73, the process determines at least one first quasi co-located (QCL) assumption according to the first TCI state and at least one second QCL assumption according to the second TCI state. Then the process proceeds to step S950. At step S950, the process receives a downlink transmission based on the at least one first QCL assumption and the at least one second QCL assumption); and
receive an association of each of a plurality of reference signals with one of the first and second TCI states (see para 71, At step S930, the process receives a codepoint of the TCI field that is associated with a first TCI state in the first subset of the configured TCI states and a second TCI state in the second subset of the configured TCI states).
Regarding Claim 66, Tsai discloses a method in a network node (see FIG. 12), configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD), the method comprising:
sending at least one of an activation command and an indication for a first and second unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state out of a plurality of TCI states (see paras 69-70, the UE receives/i.e., sent by the network node or base station, configuration information of multiple transmission configuration indication (TCI) states transmitted from a base station in a wireless communications network. At step S920, the process receives one or more activation commands that associate a first subset of the configured TCI states with one or more codepoints of a TCI field and a second subset of the configured TCI states with the one or more codepoints of the TCI field), each of the first and second TCI states including quasi co-location (QCL) information for at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission of a plurality of at least one of physical channels and reference signals by the WD (see paras 72-73, the process determines at least one first quasi co-located (QCL) assumption according to the first TCI state and at least one second QCL assumption according to the second TCI state. Then the process proceeds to step S950. At step S950, the process receives a downlink transmission based on the at least one first QCL assumption and the at least one second QCL assumption); and
sending an association of each of a plurality of reference signals with one of the first and second TCI states (see para 71, At step S930, the process receives/i.e., sent by the network node or base station, a codepoint of the TCI field that is associated with a first TCI state in the first subset of the configured TCI states and a second TCI state in the second subset of the configured TCI states).
.
Regarding Claim 71, Tsai discloses a network node, configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD), the network node comprising: processing circuitry (see FIG. 12, para 109) configured to:
cause transmission of at least one of an activation command and an indication for a first and second unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state out of a plurality of TCI states(see paras 69-70, the UE receives/i.e., sent by the network node or base station, configuration information of multiple transmission configuration indication (TCI) states transmitted from a base station in a wireless communications network. At step S920, the process receives one or more activation commands that associate a first subset of the configured TCI states with one or more codepoints of a TCI field and a second subset of the configured TCI states with the one or more codepoints of the TCI field), each of the first and second TCI states including quasi co-location (QCL) information for at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission of a plurality of at least one of physical channels and reference signals by the WD (see paras 72-73, the process determines at least one first quasi co-located (QCL) assumption according to the first TCI state and at least one second QCL assumption according to the second TCI state. Then the process proceeds to step S950. At step S950, the process receives a downlink transmission based on the at least one first QCL assumption and the at least one second QCL assumption); and
cause transmission of an association of each of a plurality of reference signals with one of the first and second TCI states (see para 71, At step S930, the process receives/i.e., sent by the network node or base station, a codepoint of the TCI field that is associated with a first TCI state in the first subset of the configured TCI states and a second TCI state in the second subset of the configured TCI states).
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, 65, 70 and 75 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai in view of Koshnevisan (US 20230171062 A1).
Regarding Claims 7, 65, 70 and 75, Tsai discloses that downlink reference signal can be either CSI-RS or SSB.
Tsai does not disclose detials regarding: a reference signal configuration for a reference signal is a configuration of an aperiodic CSI triggering state containing a reference signal resource.
In the same field of endeavor, Koshnevisan teaches this limitation: see paras 101-102, trigger state corresponding to a CSI request field value includes the sequence, {(TCI state 1, TCI state 2), (TCI state 3), (TCI state 4), (TCI state 5, TCI state 6), . . . } for the CSI-RS resources in the resource set. UE reads this sequence to mean that the first aperiodic CSI-RS resource of the resource set is associated with two TCI state IDs (TCI state 1, TCI state 2), the second aperiodic CSI-RS resource is associated with a single TCI state ID (TCI state 3), and so on. Thus, the mapping between the sequence of TCI states and CSI-RS resources in the set is explicitly be given in the configuration trigger states. When UE determines the TCI state ID or the two or more TCI state IDs associated with the particular aperiodic CSI-RS resource, it would then determine the QCL assumption associated with the identified TCI state ID. UE would then apply the determined QCL assumption in receiving and decoding the aperiodic CSI-RS resource.
Therefore, it would have been obvious, to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Tsai, so that the UE determines the TCI state ID or the two or more TCI state IDs associated with the particular aperiodic CSI-RS resource, and then determine the QCL assumption associated with the identified TCI state ID, as taught by Koshnevisan, so as to apply the determined QCL assumption in receiving and decoding the aperiodic CSI-RS resource (see Koshnevisan, para 102).
Conclusion
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/DEEPA BELUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472