DETAILED ACTION
This communication is response to the application filed 06/12/2026. Claims 1-30 are pending and presented for examination.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/12/2024, 06/16/2025, 01/23/2025, and 07/06/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2022/0345272 to Guo (hereafter Guo) in view of US 11,553,375 to Huang et al. (hereafter Huang).
Regarding claim 1, Guo discloses an apparatus (see Guo, Fig 15), comprising:
a memory comprising executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the executable instructions (see Guo, Fig 15, processor 310 and memory 320; ¶ 0070: a terminal device, comprising: a processor; and a memory configured to store a computer program capable of being run in the processor, wherein the processor is configured to run the computer program) and cause the apparatus to:
receive signaling configuring the apparatus with a plurality of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states (see Guo, ¶ 0012: receiving, by a terminal device, configuration information including M transmission configuration indication, TCI, states);
receive a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) activating one or more TCI states (see Guo, ¶ 0012: receiving, by the terminal device, an activation command to activate K of the M TCI states; ¶ 0014: the terminal device receives the activation command through a medium access control element, MAC CE), wherein the MAC-CE indicates whether one or more TCI codepoints are used to select a single activated downlink (DL) TCI state, a single activated uplink (UL) TCI state, or paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Guo, ¶ 0015: the MAC CE maps the K TCI states to codepoints of an uplink transmission configuration indication field of the DCI; ¶ 0042: the MAC CE maps the K TCI states to codepoints of an uplink transmission configuration indication field of the DCI; ¶ 0112: the terminal device 100 receives an activation command to activate K of the M UL TCI. For example, the activation command may activate K (e.g. a number between 1 and 8) of the M TCI states to codepoints of a UL TCI field of a DCI (e.g. a “UL Transmission Configuration Indication” field of the DCI));
receive a downlink control information (DCI) with a TCI field (see Guo, ¶ 0012: receiving, by the terminal device, downlink control information, DCI, to schedule a PUSCH transmission, the DCI indicating a selected TCI state from among the K TCI states); and
determine at least one of a receive beam or a transmit beam to use for a transmission scheduled by the DCI, based on the TCI field and the MAC-CE (see Guo, ¶ 0012: determining, by the terminal device, a transmission beam using the selected TCI state; and transmitting, by the terminal device, on the PUSCH according to the determined transmission beam; ¶ 0064: based on determining from the configuration information that the DCI will include the indication of the uplink transmission state: determine a transmission beam using a TCI state selected by the DCI from among the K TCI states).
Guo discloses MAC-CE indicates whether one or more TCI codepoints are used to select activated TCI states which is interpreted as paired activated DL and UL TCI states but does not explicitly disclose “a single activated downlink (DL) TCI state, a single activated uplink (UL) TCI state, or paired activated DL and UL TCI states”.
However, Huang discloses indicates whether one or more TCI codepoints are used to select a single activated downlink (DL) TCI state, a single activated uplink (UL) TCI state, or paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, Col 22 lines 23-25; Col 23 lines 4-15; Col 28 lines 59-62; Col 31 lines 4-11).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 2, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein the MAC-CE includes, a dedicated bit for each of the one or more TCI codepoints in a field in the MAC-CE, wherein each dedicated bit indicates whether a corresponding TCI codepoint is used to select a single activated DL TCI state, a single activated UL TCI state, or paired activated DL and UL TCI states.
However, Huang discloses wherein the MAC-CE includes, a dedicated bit for each of the one or more TCI codepoints in a field in the MAC-CE, wherein each dedicated bit indicates whether a corresponding TCI codepoint is used to select a single activated DL TCI state, a single activated UL TCI state, or paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, 28 lines 35-62; Col 29 lines 17-21; Col 38 lines 1-4).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 3, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 2, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein when the dedicated bit for the corresponding TCI codepoint is set to a first value, that TCI codepoint is used to select the paired activated DL and UL TCI states.
However, Huang discloses wherein when the dedicated bit for the corresponding TCI codepoint is set to a first value, that TCI codepoint is used to select the paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, Col 29 lines 35-38; Col 37 lines 29-44; Col 38 lines 15-21).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 4, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 3, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein, when the dedicated bit for the TCI codepoint is set to the first value, two consecutive fields of the MAC-CE indicate TCI identifiers (IDs) for the paired activated DL and UL TCI states.
However, Huang discloses wherein, when the dedicated bit for the TCI codepoint is set to the first value, two consecutive fields of the MAC-CE indicate TCI identifiers (IDs) for the paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, Col 29 lines 13-16; Col 29 lines 27-30; Col 30 lines 13-22; Col 34 lines 57-64).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 5, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 4, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein the two consecutive fields comprise: a first field that indicates a UL TCI ID; and a second field that indicates a DL TCI ID.
However, Huang discloses wherein the two consecutive fields comprise: a first field that indicates a UL TCI ID; and a second field that indicates a DL TCI ID (see Huang, Col 29 lines 13-16; Col 29 lines 27-30; Col 30 lines 13-22; Col 30 lines 65-67).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 6, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 5, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein the DL TCI ID has more bits than the UL TCI ID.
However, Huang discloses wherein the DL TCI ID has more bits than the UL TCI ID (see Huang, Col 29 lines 27-30).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Also, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to assign more bits to DL TCI ID compared to the bits of UL TCI ID based on user design preference to achieve efficient identification assignment.
Regarding claim 7, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 6, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein each field of the two consecutive fields comprises a bit that indicates whether the TCIID included in the field is associated with an activated DL TCI state or an activated UL TCI state of the paired activated DL and UL TCI states.
However, Huang discloses wherein each field of the two consecutive fields comprises a bit that indicates whether the TCIID included in the field is associated with an activated DL TCI state or an activated UL TCI state of the paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, Col 22 lines 22-67; Col 28 lines 15-21; Col 28 lines 63-67).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 8, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 3, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein when the dedicated bit for the corresponding TCI codepoint is set to a second value, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI codepoint is used to select a single activated DL TCI state or a single activated UL TCI state.
However, Huang discloses wherein when the dedicated bit for the corresponding TCI codepoint is set to a second value, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI codepoint is used to select a single activated DL TCI state or a single activated UL TCI state (see Huang, Col 28 lines 15-21; Col 28 lines 63-67).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 9, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 8, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein, when the dedicated bit for the TCI codepoint is set to the second value, a single field for the corresponding TCI codepoint indicates a TCI ID for the single activated DL TCI state or the single activated UL TCI state.
However, Huang discloses wherein, when the dedicated bit for the TCI codepoint is set to the second value, a single field for the corresponding TCI codepoint indicates a TCI ID for the single activated DL TCI state or the single activated UL TCI state (see Huang, Col 28 lines 15-21; Col 28 lines 63-67; Col 30 lines 60-64).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 10, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 9, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein the single field further comprises a bit indicating whether the TCI ID included in the single field is associated with the activated DL TCI state or the activated UL TCI state.
However, Huang discloses wherein the single field further comprises a bit indicating whether the TCI ID included in the single field is associated with the activated DL TCI state or the activated UL TCI state (see Huang, Col 28 lines 15-21; Col 28 lines 63-67; Col 30 lines 60-64).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 11, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein: the MAC-CE includes a first dedicated bit for each of the one or more TCI codepoints; and the first dedicated bit, for each of the one or more TCI codepoints, is included in a separate field in the MAC-CE.
However, Huang discloses wherein: the MAC-CE includes a first dedicated bit for each of the one or more TCI codepoints (see Huang, Col 34 lines 57-64; Col 35 lines 65-67); and the first dedicated bit, for each of the one or more TCI codepoints, is included in a separate field in the MAC-CE (see Huang, Col 38 lines 1-22; Col 30 lines 42-48).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 12, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 11, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein when a field comprises a first dedicated bit for a TCI codepoint of the one or more TCI codepoints that is equal to a first value, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI codepoint is used to select the single activated DL TCI state.
However, Guo discloses wherein when a field comprises a first dedicated bit for a TCI codepoint of the one or more TCI codepoints that is equal to a first value, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI codepoint is used to select the single activated DL TCI state (see Huang, Col 34 lines 34-64; Col 35 15-26).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 13, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 12, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein the field further comprises a TCI ID associated with the single activated DL TCI state.
However, Huang discloses wherein the field further comprises a TCI ID associated with the single activated DL TCI state (see Huang, Col 30 lines 60-64; Col 22 lines 23-25; Col 31 lines 23-24).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 14, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 12, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein when the field comprises a first dedicated bit for a TCI codepoint of the one or more TCI codepoints that is equal to a second value, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI codepoint is used to select: the paired activated DL and UL TCI states; or the single activated UL TCI state.
However, Huang discloses wherein when the field comprises a first dedicated bit for a TCI codepoint of the one or more TCI codepoints that is equal to a second value, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI codepoint is used to select: the paired activated DL and UL TCI states; or the single activated UL TCI state (see Huang, col 19 lines 60-65; Col 20 lines 32-43; Col 22 lines 23-25; Col 22 lines 50-56; Col 23 lines 4-15).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 15, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 14, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein the field: indicates a first TCIID associated with a UL TCI state of the paired, activated DL and UL TCI states or the single activated UL TCI state; and comprises a second dedicated bit that indicates whether the first TCI ID is associated with the single activated UL TCI state or one of the paired activated DL and UL TCI states.
However, Huang discloses wherein the field: indicates a first TCI ID associated with a UL TCI state of the paired, activated DL and UL TCI states or the single activated UL TCI state (see Huang, Col 22 lines 50-67; Col 28 lines 63-67; Col 29 lines 13-21); and
comprises a second dedicated bit that indicates whether the first TCI ID is associated with the single activated UL TCI state or one of the paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, Col 22 lines 50-67; Col 28 lines 63-67).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 16, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 15, Guo does not explicitly disclose wherein when the second dedicated bit indicates the first TCI ID is associated with the paired activated DL and UL TCI states another field indicates a second TCI ID associated with the other of the paired activated DL and UL TCI states.
However, Huang discloses wherein when the second dedicated bit indicates the first TCI ID is associated with the paired activated DL and UL TCI states another field indicates a second TCI ID associated with the other of the paired activated DL and UL TCI states (see Huang, Col 29 lines 13-26).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 17, Guo in view of Huang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the UE is configured with: a single transmission reception point (sTRP) operation; or a multiple downlink control information (mDCI) based multiple TRP (mTRP) operation (see Guo, ¶ 0091 and ¶ 0098).
Also, Huang discloses wherein when the UE is configured with: a single transmission reception point (sTRP) operation; or a multiple downlink control information (mDCI) based multiple TRP (mTRP) operation (see Huang, Col 3 lines 60-63: association between TCI state ID(s) to a TCI code-point in DCI for sTRP mechanism; Col 28 lines 7-15).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the above teaching as taught by Huang and incorporate it into the system of Guo to improve efficiency of the communication system (see Huang, Col 14 lines 19-22).
Regarding claim 18, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1. Applicant is merely claiming the transmitting side of the invention.
Regarding claim 19, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 20, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 3.
Regarding claim 21, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 4.
Regarding claim 22, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 23, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 6.
Regarding claim 24, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 7.
Regarding claim 25, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 8.
Regarding claim 26, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 9.
Regarding claim 27, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 10.
Regarding claim 28, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 11.
Regarding claim 29, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 1.
Regarding claim 30, it is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1. Although phrased as a method claim, the claim is nevertheless simple repetitions of the subject matter of claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0090424 to CHUNG et al. discloses dynamically indicating spatial parameters in wireless communication system. For up to 128 candidate (candidate) TCI states configured by RRC, 8 of them may be activated (or down-selected) by MAC-CE, and may be mapped to codepoints of the TCI field of DL DCI. In this regard, by the TCI field of the DL DCI for scheduling of the subsequent PDSCH, one of the TCI states activated by the MAC CE may be dynamically indicated. For PUSCH beam indication through UL DCI, the base station may indicate the terminal with DCI format 0_1 for PUSCH scheduling, and may indicate through the SRI field in the UL DCI an SRS resource as a reference to configure/indicate the corresponding PUSCH transmission beam.
US 2024/0283575 to Zhang et al. discloses transmission configuration indicator determination and acknowledgment. Example 19 includes a method of operating a user equipment, UE, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, a media access control, MAC, control element, CE, to activate transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states associated with a plurality of TCI codepoints; and determining one or more TCI states to use as default TCI state(s) before reception of a TCI indication in downlink control information, DCI.
US 2023/0087394 to YUAN et al. discloses the base station may transmit, and the UE may receive, a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) selecting a subset of the candidate uplink TCI states in the RRC-configured uplink TCI state pool. For example, as described above, the RRC-configured uplink TCI state pool may include up to 128 candidate uplink TCI states for one or more uplink resources or uplink resource sets, and the MAC-CE may include information to select up to 2.sup.N uplink TCI states from the RRC-configured uplink TCI state pool, where N is a quantity of bits that subsequent downlink control information (DCI) may include in a TCI request field to activate a particular uplink TCI state for an uplink transmission scheduled by the DCI. For example, in some aspects, the MAC-CE may select up to eight (8) uplink TCI states from the RRC-configured uplink TCI state pool, which may be sequentially mapped to eight (8) possible codepoints that DCI may provide in a three-bit TCI request field for a dynamically scheduled or semi-persistently scheduled uplink communication. Accordingly, as shown by reference number 330, the base station may transmit, and the UE may receive, DCI including an uplink TCI codepoint (e.g., in a three-bit uplink TCI request field) to be mapped to an uplink TCI state in the subset of uplink TCI states selected by the MAC-CE.
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/RASHEED GIDADO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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