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 Objections
Claims 1-2 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Abbreviation (timeDurationForQCL) needs to be defined.
Appropriate correction is required. For examination purpose the examiner will treat it as a threshold.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 07/17/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-2 have been amended. Claims 1-2 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/17/2026, have been fully considered and entered but they are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1-2 recited “determine a mapping pattern of the DL PT-RS within the plurality of PDSCHs” then “a first code point of the TCI field indicates a first mapping pattern and a second code point of the TCI field indicates a second mapping pattern”, the claim did not draw any relation among “the mapping pattern of the DL PT-RS”; “the first mapping pattern” and “the second mapping pattern”.
The claims are also ambiguous about how “the mapping pattern of the DL PT-RS depends on whether a scheduling offset” and in addition being defined by the first code and the second code on the TCI field.
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being -unpatentable over GAO et al. (WO 2021062719 A1) hereinafter GAO, in view of GAO et al. (US 20240187199 A1) hereinafter GAO99.
Regarding Claim 1
GAO teaches a terminal device (method/terminal device [0006][0007]) comprising:
reception circuitry configured to
receive a Physical Downlink Control Channel “PDCCH” including a single Downlink Control Information (DCI) format (PDCCH transmission [0051]-[0053]),
receive a plurality of Physical Downlink Shared Channels “PDSCHs” based on the PDCCH ([0051]-[0053]);
and receive a Downlink Phase Tracking Reference Signal DL PT-RS (DL PT-RS, and TCI field is present in DCI of the PDCCH [0051]-[0053] and [0065]-[0069]); and
determination circuitry configured to determine a mapping pattern of the DL PT- RS within the plurality of PDSCHs; the DCI format comprises a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) field (TCI field in downlink control information (DCI)[0053]),
a first code point of the TCI field indicates a first mapping pattern and a second code
point of the TCI field indicates a second mapping pattern,
the plurality of PDSCHs are scheduled by the DCI format,
([0065]-[0079], Figs. 2-3) disclose that the UE determines a mapping pattern of the DL PT-RS within the PDSCH based on value of the TCI field “single-DCI”);
the plurality of PDSCHs are associated with a plurality of Transmission Reception Points
(TRPs) [0082].
GAO did not explicitly teach the mapping pattern depends on whether a scheduling offset associated with the plurality of PDSCHs is greater than or equal to threshold “timeDurationForQCL”.
GAO99 teaches the mapping pattern depends on whether a scheduling offset associated with the plurality of PDSCHs is greater than or equal to threshold “timeDurationForQCL” (For example, the mapping/association between the PDSCH transmission and the first TCI state and/or the second TCI state is disclosed in some embodiments in this disclosure. For example, if the time offset between the reception of the DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is equal to or greater than a threshold [0182] In some embodiments, the first time threshold X and/or the second time threshold Y may be the same as the threshold timeDurationForQCL as specified in TS 38.214 or TS 38.306 [0155])
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of GAO99 to the teachings of GAO. The motivation for such an addition would be to allow updated beam can be applied for PDCCH and PDSCH transmission/reception in case of multi-TRP transmission (GAO99, abstract).
Regarding claim 2, is rejected under the same reasoning as claim 1, where GAO teaches method/terminal device [0006][0007].
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AYMAN A ABAZA whose telephone number is (571)270-0422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Deborah Reynolds, can be reached at 571-272-0734. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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