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.
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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 49-51, 53 and 55 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al., US 2021/0084624 A1 (Zhou hereinafter), in view of Xu et al., US 2023/0054878 A1 (Xu hereinafter).
Here is how the references teach the claims.
Regarding claim 1, Zhou discloses a network node configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD) (Zhou, abstract, methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station and a user equipment (UE) with a defined capability may communicate using beamformed wireless communications), the network node comprising:
processing circuitry (Zhou, paragraph [0206], The operations of method 1600 may be implemented by a base station 105 or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1600 may be performed by a communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13. In some examples, a base station may execute a set of instructions to control the functional elements of the base station to perform the functions described below) configured to:
transmit an indication of a first and a second transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state of a plurality of TCI states configured for the WD (Zhou, Fig. 16, step 1615 and paragraph [0210], At 1615, the base station may transmit a message to the UE to indicate the first PDSCH TCI state or may select the first PDSCH TCI state to follow a TCI state or be quasi co-located with a CORESET configured for the UE. Also see Fig. 16, step 1610 and paragraph [0208], At 1610, the base station may determine whether to indicate to the UE a first PDSCH TCI state among a plurality of different PDSCH TCI states, the first PDSCH TCI state being based at least in part on the capability), the first and second TCI states being used for at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission for a plurality of physical channels by the WD (Zhou, paragraph [0037], the base station may maintain a set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions and a set of TCI states (i.e., first and second TCI state) for downlink control channel transmissions on a control resource set (CORESET). The set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions may correspond to beams the base station may use for downlink transmission on a CORESET and a PDSCH), … transmit a pointer associated with a control resource set (CORESET), the pointer pointing to at least one of the indicated first TCI state and the second TCI state (Zhou, paragraph [0180], the TCI state indicator transmitting component 1245 may cause a transmitter (e.g., transmitter 1020, 1135, or 1320) to transmit signal 1265 which may include a control transmission beam further including a CORESET containing an indicator (i.e., a pointer associated with a CORESET) that indicates that the first PDSCH TCI state (i.e., a pointer pointing at least a first TCI state) is indicated in the downlink control information), wherein the CORESET is to be associated by the WD to one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state (Zhou, Fig. 17 step 1705 and paragraph [0213], the base station may receive a capability indicator of a capability of a UE to support a number of PDSCH TCI states and a number of CORESET TCI states … receive information contained in the capability indication related to the number of PDSCH TCI states and the number of CORESET TCI states the UE is capable of supporting, and further what states the base station may configure for the UE); and
transmitting an indication of a spatial filter for each one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0005], The base station may transmit a downlink transmission to a UE using a directional transmit beam, and the UE may attempt to receive the downlink transmission via a receive beam. Each transmit and receive beam may have an associated transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to indicate different sets of beamforming parameters (i.e., indication of spatial filter for the 1st and 2nd TCI state). A TCI state may be associated with a number of spatial parameters and may correspond to analog receive beamforming parameters of a receive beam at the UE. Also see paragraph [0061], Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device).
Regarding claim 49, Zhou discloses a method in a network node configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD) (Zhou, abstract, methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station and a user equipment (UE) with a defined capability may communicate using beamformed wireless communications), the method comprising:
transmitting an indication of a first and a second transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states of a plurality of TCI states configured for the WD (Zhou, Fig. 16, step 1615 and paragraph [0210], At 1615, the base station may transmit a message to the UE to indicate the first PDSCH TCI state or may select the first PDSCH TCI state to follow a TCI state or be quasi co-located with a CORESET configured for the UE. Also see Fig. 16, step 1610 and paragraph [0208], At 1610, the base station may determine whether to indicate to the UE a first PDSCH TCI state among a plurality of different PDSCH TCI states, the first PDSCH TCI state being based at least in part on the capability), the first and second TCI states being used for at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission for a plurality of physical channels by the WD (Zhou, paragraph [0037], the base station may maintain a set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions and a set of TCI states (i.e., first and second TCI state) for downlink control channel transmissions on a control resource set (CORESET). The set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions may correspond to beams the base station may use for downlink transmission on a CORESET and a PDSCH), … transmitting a pointer associated with a control resource set (CORESET), the pointer pointing to at least one of the indicated first TCI state and the second TCI state (Zhou, paragraph [0180], the TCI state indicator transmitting component 1245 may cause a transmitter (e.g., transmitter 1020, 1135, or 1320) to transmit signal 1265 which may include a control transmission beam further including a CORESET containing an indicator (i.e., a pointer associated with a CORESET) that indicates that the first PDSCH TCI state (i.e., a pointer pointing at least a first TCI state) is indicated in the downlink control information), wherein the CORESET is to be associated by the WD to one of the first TCI state and the second TCI state (Zhou, Fig. 17 step 1705 and paragraph [0213], the base station may receive a capability indicator of a capability of a UE to support a number of PDSCH TCI states and a number of CORESET TCI states … receive information contained in the capability indication related to the number of PDSCH TCI states and the number of CORESET TCI states the UE is capable of supporting, and further what states the base station may configure for the UE); and
transmitting an indication of a spatial filter for each one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0005], The base station may transmit a downlink transmission to a UE using a directional transmit beam, and the UE may attempt to receive the downlink transmission via a receive beam. Each transmit and receive beam may have an associated transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to indicate different sets of beamforming parameters (i.e., indication of spatial filter for the 1st and 2nd TCI state). A TCI state may be associated with a number of spatial parameters and may correspond to analog receive beamforming parameters of a receive beam at the UE. Also see paragraph [0061], Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device).
Regarding claim 53, Zhou discloses a wireless device (WD), configured to communicate with a network node (Zhou, abstract, methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station and a user equipment (UE) with a defined capability may communicate using beamformed wireless communications), the WD comprising:
a radio interface (Zhou, Fig. 9, elements 915, 920 and 925 paragraph [0155], FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a system 900 including a device 905 that supports capability-based determination of a shared data channel TCI state in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 905 may be an example of or include the components of device 605, device 705, or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 905 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communications manager 910, an I/O controller 915, a transceiver 920, an antenna 925) configured to:
receive an indication of a first and a second transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a plurality of TCI states (Zhou, Fig. 16, step 1615 and paragraph [0210], At 1615, the base station may transmit a message to the UE to indicate the first PDSCH TCI state or may select the first PDSCH TCI state to follow a TCI state or be quasi co-located with a CORESET configured for the UE. Also see Fig. 16, step 1610 and paragraph [0208], At 1610, the base station may determine whether to indicate to the UE a first PDSCH TCI state among a plurality of different PDSCH TCI states, the first PDSCH TCI state being based at least in part on the capability), the first and second TCI states being associated with at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission for a plurality of physical channels (Zhou, paragraph [0037], the base station may maintain a set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions and a set of TCI states (i.e., first and second TCI state) for downlink control channel transmissions on a control resource set (CORESET). The set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions may correspond to beams the base station may use for downlink transmission on a CORESET and a PDSCH), … and
receive a pointer associated with a control resource set (CORESET), the pointer pointing to at least one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0180], the TCI state indicator transmitting component 1245 may cause a transmitter (e.g., transmitter 1020, 1135, or 1320) to transmit signal 1265 which may include a control transmission beam further including a CORESET containing an indicator (i.e., a pointer associated with a CORESET) that indicates that the first PDSCH TCI state (i.e., a pointer pointing at least a first TCI state) is indicated in the downlink control information); and
processing circuitry in communication with the radio interface (Zhou, paragraph [0036], A base station and a user equipment (UE) may be configured for beamformed wireless communications. For example, the base station may transmit in the direction of the UE using a directional transmit beam, where each transmit beam has an associated beam ID, beam direction, beam symbols, and the like. The UE may attempt to receive the downlink transmissions via receive beams configured using different beamforming parameters at receive circuitry at the UE) and configured to:
determine a spatial filter for each one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0036], The TCI state may be associated with spatial parameters, and may correspond to analog receive beamforming parameters of a receive beam used by the UE. By the base station indicating the TCI state of a transmit beam, the UE may use the indicated TCI state to select an active or activated TCI state for a receive beam from a set of TCI states. Also see paragraph [0061], Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device); and
associate the CORESET to one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, Fig. 17 step 1705 and paragraph [0213], the base station may receive a capability indicator of a capability of a UE to support a number of PDSCH TCI states and a number of CORESET TCI states … receive information contained in the capability indication related to the number of PDSCH TCI states and the number of CORESET TCI states the UE is capable of supporting, and further what states the base station may configure for the UE).
Regarding claim 55, Zhou discloses a method in a wireless device (WD) configured to communicate with a network node (Zhou, abstract, methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station and a user equipment (UE) with a defined capability may communicate using beamformed wireless communications), the method comprising:
receiving an indication of a first and a second transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a plurality of TCI states (Zhou, Fig. 16, step 1615 and paragraph [0210], At 1615, the base station may transmit a message to the UE to indicate the first PDSCH TCI state or may select the first PDSCH TCI state to follow a TCI state or be quasi co-located with a CORESET configured for the UE. Also see Fig. 16, step 1610 and paragraph [0208], At 1610, the base station may determine whether to indicate to the UE a first PDSCH TCI state among a plurality of different PDSCH TCI states, the first PDSCH TCI state being based at least in part on the capability), the first and second TCI states being associated with at least one of downlink reception and uplink transmission for a plurality of physical channels (Zhou, paragraph [0037], the base station may maintain a set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions and a set of TCI states (i.e., first and second TCI state) for downlink control channel transmissions on a control resource set (CORESET). The set of TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions may correspond to beams the base station may use for downlink transmission on a CORESET and a PDSCH), … and
determining a spatial filter for each of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0036], The TCI state may be associated with spatial parameters, and may correspond to analog receive beamforming parameters of a receive beam used by the UE. By the base station indicating the TCI state of a transmit beam, the UE may use the indicated TCI state to select an active or activated TCI state for a receive beam from a set of TCI states. Also see paragraph [0061], Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device);
receiving a pointer associated with a control resource set (CORESET), the pointer pointing to at least one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0180], the TCI state indicator transmitting component 1245 may cause a transmitter (e.g., transmitter 1020, 1135, or 1320) to transmit signal 1265 which may include a control transmission beam further including a CORESET containing an indicator (i.e., a pointer associated with a CORESET) that indicates that the first PDSCH TCI state (i.e., a pointer pointing at least a first TCI state) is indicated in the downlink control information); and
associating the CORESET to one of the first and second TCI states (Zhou, Fig. 17 step 1705 and paragraph [0213], the base station may receive a capability indicator of a capability of a UE to support a number of PDSCH TCI states and a number of CORESET TCI states … receive information contained in the capability indication related to the number of PDSCH TCI states and the number of CORESET TCI states the UE is capable of supporting, and further what states the base station may configure for the UE).
Regarding claims 1, 49 53 and 55, Zhou does not explicitly disclose each of the first and second TCI states being associated with a first and second common beam respectively;
In the same field of endeavor (e.g., communication system) Xu discloses a method related to beam failure detection in a wireless communication system that comprises each of the first and second TCI states being associated with a first and second common beam respectively (Xu, paragraph [0242], The plurality of TCI states may comprise one or more joint TCI states. The plurality of TCI states may comprise one or more separate TCI states. The plurality of TCI states may correspond to a plurality of common beams (e.g., each of the plurality of TCI states may correspond to one of the plurality of common beams));
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhou by using the features, as taught by Xu, in order to provide beam failure recovery by incrementing and resetting a beam failure detection counter based on the detection of a beam failure of a reference signal (see Xu, abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Zhou discloses wherein the first and the second TCI states are activated by a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) command, among a plurality of configured TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0095], In a first implementation, UE 115-b may use a TCI state selected by, for example, a MAC CE as the activated PDSCH TCI state or other base station message. A MAC CE that indicates an active PDSCH TCI state may be referred to as a MAC CE for PDSCH TCI activation. Base station 105-b may include a PDSCH TCI state indicator in a MAC CE and transmit the MAC CE to UE 115-b).
Regarding claim 3, Zhou discloses wherein the first and the second TCI states are indicated by a downlink control information, (DCI) format, among a plurality of activated TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0088], In other wireless systems, a UE 115 may implement four different cases or rules to determine which downlink shared channel TCI state to use. In case 1, a downlink shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) may be scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) with DCI format 1_0).
Regarding claim 50, Zhou discloses wherein the first and the second TCI states are activated by a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) command, among a plurality of configured TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0095], In a first implementation, UE 115-b may use a TCI state selected by, for example, a MAC CE as the activated PDSCH TCI state or other base station message. A MAC CE that indicates an active PDSCH TCI state may be referred to as a MAC CE for PDSCH TCI activation. Base station 105-b may include a PDSCH TCI state indicator in a MAC CE and transmit the MAC CE to UE 115-b).
Regarding claim 51, Zhou discloses wherein the first and the second TCI states are indicated by a downlink control information (DCI) format, among a plurality of activated TCI states (Zhou, paragraph [0088], In other wireless systems, a UE 115 may implement four different cases or rules to determine which downlink shared channel TCI state to use. In case 1, a downlink shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) may be scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) with DCI format 1_0).
Claim(s) 52, 54 and 56 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al., US 2021/0084624 A1 (Zhou hereinafter), in view of Xu et al., US 2023/0054878 A1 (Xu hereinafter), as applied to the claims above and further in view of ZHOU et al., US 2024/0251469 A1 (Zhou’469 hereinafter).
Here is how the references teach the claims.
Regarding claims 52, 54 and 56, Zhou and Xu disclose the method of claim 49, the WD of claim 53 and the method of claim 55. Zhou and Xu do not explicitly disclose the following features.
Regarding claim 52, wherein at least a first CORESET is associated to a first common beam and at least a second CORESET is associated to a second common beam.
Regarding claim 54, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to associate at least a first CORESET to a first common beam and associate at least a second CORESET to a second common beam.
Regarding claim 56, further comprising associating at least a first CORESET to a first common beam and associate at least a second CORESET to a second common beam.
In the same field of endeavor (e.g., communication system) Zhou’469 discloses a method related to a wireless communication system that comprises the following features.
Regarding claim 52, wherein at least a first CORESET is associated to a first common beam and at least a second CORESET is associated to a second common beam (Zhou’469, paragraph [0052], using the MAC-CE based implicit TCI state update, in which the first TCI codepoint may be applied to the plurality of channels or reference signals, may be undesirable. For example, a base station may transmit DCI to originally select first and second TCI codepoints for a first common beam including a first control resource set (CORESET) and a second common beam including a second CORESET, respectively, for diversity purposes).
Regarding claim 54, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to associate at least a first CORESET to a first common beam and associate at least a second CORESET to a second common beam (Zhou’469, paragraph [0052], using the MAC-CE based implicit TCI state update, in which the first TCI codepoint may be applied to the plurality of channels or reference signals, may be undesirable. For example, a base station may transmit DCI to originally select first and second TCI codepoints for a first common beam including a first control resource set (CORESET) and a second common beam including a second CORESET, respectively, for diversity purposes).
Regarding claim 56, further comprising associating at least a first CORESET to a first common beam and associate at least a second CORESET to a second common beam (Zhou’469, paragraph [0052], using the MAC-CE based implicit TCI state update, in which the first TCI codepoint may be applied to the plurality of channels or reference signals, may be undesirable. For example, a base station may transmit DCI to originally select first and second TCI codepoints for a first common beam including a first control resource set (CORESET) and a second common beam including a second CORESET, respectively, for diversity purposes).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhou and Xu by using the features, as taught by Zhou’469, in order to provide further improvements in radio access technologies to support increasing demand for mobile broadband access (see Zhou’469, abstract and paragraph [0004]).
Conclusion
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/OBAIDUL HUQ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473 Dated: 02/20/2026