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 .
Response to Amendment
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 07/30/2026.
Claims 1, 7, 12, 18, and 19 have been amended.
Rejection to claim 19 under 35 USC § 112 is withdrawn since it has been amended accordingly.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-22 filed on 07/30/2026 have been considered but are moot because the arguments related solely to newly added limitations addressed in the instant Office Action with newly identified prior art, Rong et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230269041, hereinafter “Rong”), thus rendering applicant’s arguments moot.
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 (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.
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) 1-5 and 12-16 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230188283, hereinafter “Liu”) in view of Rong et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230269041, hereinafter “Rong”)
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Liu unless otherwise mentioned.
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches An apparatus (Fig. 20, processing system 2000) for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory (Fig. 20, a memory 2006); and
at least one processor (Fig. 20, a processor 2004) coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a configuration message including a serving cell configuration and a bandwidth part configuration (para [0070]: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods for M-TRP communications of a UE in a serving cell over the same carrier/BWP of the serving cell, with separate TAGs configured for multiple TRPs in the M-TRP communications.) (para [0075]: Each of the TAGs is associated with a TAG ID uniquely identifying a respective TAG. After receipt of the TAs of the different TAGs, i.e., TAG1, TAG2 and TAG3, the UE 302 may perform uplink transmission over the carrier with the TRP0 312, TRP1 314 and TRPn 322 according to uplink transmission timing adjusted based on their respective TAs.) (para [0076]: The UE 302 may receive scheduling information scheduling uplink transmission of the UE with a TRP on a carrier according to a TAG (‘Timing Advance Group’) associated with the TRP. In some embodiments, the UE 302 may receive first configuration information of the carrier of the serving cell 310 via a RRC configuration signaling (interpreted as “a configuration message including a serving cell configuration”). … The first, second, and third configuration information of the carrier may be transmitted by the TRP0 312 in one message or separate messages (interpreted as “a configuration message including a serving cell configuration and a bandwidth part configuration”), wherein the serving cell configuration includes first timing advance information for a component carrier (para [0076]:… the UE 302 may receive first configuration information of the carrier of the serving cell 310 via a RRC configuration signaling. FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate embodiment configuration information that may be sent to the UE, indicating an association of a TAG with an uplink transmission by the UE. The first configuration information may include/indicate an association between a first group of uplink signals and channels to be transmitted on the carrier by the UE in the serving cell 310 and the uplink TAG1 (interpreted as “the serving cell configuration includes first timing advance information for a component carrier”), and the TAG1 is associated with a first TA value. That is, the first configuration information of the carrier indicates that transmission of the first group of uplink signals and channels by the UE is according to the first TA value of the TAG1. The first configuration information may be transmitted by the TRP0 312 to the UE 302.), and wherein the bandwidth part configuration includes second timing advance information for a bandwidth part of the component carrier (para [0076]: The UE 302 may also receive second configuration information of the carrier, which includes/indicates an association between a second group of uplink signals and channels to be transmitted on the carrier by the UE and the uplink TAG2 (interpreted as “second timing advance information for a bandwidth part”), and the TAG2 is associated with a second TA value. … The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP.); Examiner’s note: Turning to the Specification of the instant application, the instant application also discloses, in para [0112] of the Specification: In the first example timing advance configuration, a serving cell may be configured with first timing advance information (e.g., a first Tag-Id) for a component carrier, and a bandwidth part of the component carrier may be configured with second timing advance information (e.g., a second Tag-Id), (The missing/crossed out limitations will be discussed in view of Rong.);
transmit a first uplink signal to a first transmission reception point (TRP) using the bandwidth part based on at least a first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information (para [0076]: That is, the first configuration information of the carrier indicates that transmission of the first group of uplink signals and channels by the UE is according to the first TA value of the TAG1. …The UE 302 may then transmit, to the TRP0 312, a UL signal or a UL channel in the first group of UL signals or channels according to the first TA value (interpreted as “a first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information”)…. The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP (interpreted as “using the bandwidth part”).); and
transmit a second uplink signal to a second TRP using the bandwidth part based on at least a second timing advance value associated with the second timing advance information (para [0076]: The UE 302 may also receive second configuration information of the carrier, which includes/indicates an association between a second group of uplink signals and channels to be transmitted on the carrier by the UE and the uplink TAG2, and the TAG2 (interpreted as “second timing advance information”) is associated with a second TA value (interpreted as “a second timing advance value”). That is, the second configuration information of the carrier indicates that transmission of the second group of uplink signals and channels by the UE is according to the second TA value of the TAG2. … The UE 302 may transmit, to the TRP1 314, a UL signal or a UL channel in the second group of UL signals or channels according to the second TA value.)
As noted above, Liu does not explicitly disclose that the second timing advance information being specified by the bandwidth part configuration for the bandwidth part separately from the first timing advance information specified by the serving cell configuration for the component carrier.
In analogous art, Rong teaches specifying uplink timing parameters at the bandwidth part configuration level. Specifically, Rong teaches incorporating “UL-timing related parameters” directly into the (‘TAG-’) TCI-state Information Element (IE) via RRC signaling to support multi-TRP operations (see paragraphs [0134]-[0138] of Rong). Rong further teaches that the (‘TAG-’) TCI-state IE natively includes a bwp-Id (see para [0130] of Rong), establishing this configuration as a bandwidth part configuration separate from the baseline serving cell configuration. Paragraphs [0130], [0134] of Rong are reproduced herein below.
[0130] As discussed previously, the information of the source reference signal may be indicated in a TCI state, and a TCI state comprising indication of a source reference signal may serve the purpose of beam indication. According to 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07), a TCI state is configured by the TCI-State information element (IE), which is part of a RRC signaling. The fields included in the TCI-State IE is illustrated in Table 1 below:
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[0134] One approach to enabling inter-TRP beam pairing is to apply restriction to the two CRI or SSBRI reported in the reporting instance such that each CRI or SSBRI is from a different TRP. To achieve this, TRP identification is needed. In one embodiment, a groupID field may be indicated in the TCI-state information element. The groupID field serves as a TRP identification. An example of how to enhance the TCI-State IE to include the groupID field is illustrated in Table 2 below. In Table 2, the underlined parts are the enhancements to the TCI-state information element. Descriptions of each of the enhancement are provided below:
[0135] physCellId: this is the physical cell identity (PCI) of the serving cell or non-serving cell. With the PCI info added to the TCI state, the TCI states of non-serving cell can also be configured for the UE, which could enable the UE with faster candidate beam identification and beam failure recovery (BFR) utilizing the non-serving cell’s beams.
[0136] groupID: in multiple TRP case, this ID serve as the TRP identification. With this ID, the UE may, for example, identify the TRP source of the source reference signal. The UE may then avoid reporting multiple beams from the same TRP to facilitate inter-TRP beam pairing, considering the fact that it is not feasible for one TRP to transmit multiple beams simultaneously in FR2.
[0137] srs: this is the SRS resource identification. SRS may serve as source reference signal in beam indication.
[0138] Other parameters: the other parameters include UL-related parameters (e.g., power control related parameters such as path loss (PL) RS and Po/alpha, and UL-timing related parameters) which are necessary for the UE to perform UL communication. These other parameters may be included in the TCI-state IE and indicated to the UE such that the UE can perform UL communication in accordance with these parameters.
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It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the multi-TRP timing advance scheme of Liu by integrating the BWP-level TCI-state timing configuration taught by Rong. The motivation to combine would be to tightly couple the uplink timing advance parameters with the specific spatial beam (TCI state) of a respective TRP directly at the bandwidth part level, thereby preventing inter-TRP timing conflicts and reduce RRC signaling overhead in a multi-TRP environment (as suggested by Rong, paragraphs [0134-0138] of Rong).
Regarding claim 12, it is a method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim 2, Liu and Rong teach The apparatus of claim 1, Liu further teaches wherein the first timing advance information includes a first timing advance group identifier and the second timing advance information includes a second timing advance group identifier (para [0075]: Each of the TAGs (‘Timing Advance Groups’) is associated with a TAG ID uniquely identifying a respective TAG.), wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive a first timing advance command including the first timing advance group identifier and the first timing advance value (para [0068]: The UE 302 may have established a connection with the cell 310 through a random access procedure, and receives a TA command of the TAG1 (interpreted as “first timing advance command including the first timing advance group identifier”) from the TRP0 312. The TA value in the TA command (interpreted as “first timing advance value”) is generally related to the distance between the TRP0 312 and the UE 302.); and
receive a second timing advance command including the second timing advance group identifier and the second timing advance value (para [0012]: the UE receives a TA command (interpreted as “second timing advance command including the second timing advance group identifier (`second TAG’)”) including a TA value for the second TAG,)(para [0075]: The UE 302 may … receive, e.g., in a random access response (RAR), a TA command of a second TAG, e.g., TAG2,).
Regarding claim 3, Liu and Rong teach The apparatus of claim 1, Liu further teaches wherein the bandwidth part configuration enables multi-TRP operation for the bandwidth part (para [0070]: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods for M-TRP communications of a UE in a serving cell over the same carrier/BWP of the serving cell, with separate TAGs configured for multiple TRPs (interpreted as “the bandwidth part configuration enables multi-TRP operation for the bandwidth part”) in the M-TRP communications.)(also see para [0076] as discussed above).
Regarding claim 4, Liu and Rong teach The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth part is one of a plurality of bandwidth parts associated with the component carrier (Fig. 7B; “BWP-Id” and para [0076]: FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate embodiment configuration information that may be sent to the UE, indicating an association of a TAG with an uplink transmission by the UE. … The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP.), and wherein the second timing advance information for the bandwidth part is not associated with one or more different bandwidth parts of the plurality of bandwidth parts (para [0060]: A cell may include one or more bandwidth pails (BWPs) for UL or DL allocated for a UE. Each BWP may have its own BWP-specific numerology and configuration (interpreted as “the bandwidth part is not associated with one or more different bandwidth parts of the plurality of bandwidth parts”), such as the BWP's bandwidth.)
Regarding claim 5, Liu and Rong teach The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more different bandwidth parts of the plurality of bandwidth parts are configured for single TRP operation (para [0003]: A NodeB may be associated with a single network point or multiple network points.) (para [0076]: The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP. Both the second and the third groups may be configured, or only one of the groups may be configured.). Examiner’s note: Liu teaches the flexibility of TRP configurations within the carrier/BWP structure (see para [0003]). Specifically, Liu discloses that for different groups of signals (which are associated with distinct TAGs), “both the second and the third groups may be configured, or only one of the groups may be configured” (see para [0076] of Liu). Thus, configuring only one group (TAG) for a transmission corresponds to a “single TRP operation” as recited in the claim.
Regarding claim 13, Claim 13, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 2, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 2.
Regarding claim 14, Claim 14, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 3, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 3.
Regarding claim 15, Claim 15, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 4, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 4.
Regarding claim 16, Claim 16, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 5, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 5.
Claim(s) 6-11 and 17-22 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, in view of Rong, and further in view of Nilsson et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20240357529 (which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/240,717 filed on September 03, 2021), hereinafter “Nilsson”).
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 7, Liu teaches An apparatus (Fig. 20, processing system 2000) for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory (Fig. 20, a memory 2006); and
at least one processor (Fig. 20, a processor 2004) coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a configuration message including a serving cell configuration and a bandwidth part configuration (para [0070]: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods for M-TRP communications of a UE in a serving cell over the same carrier/BWP of the serving cell, with separate TAGs configured for multiple TRPs in the M-TRP communications.) (para [0075]: Each of the TAGs is associated with a TAG ID uniquely identifying a respective TAG. After receipt of the TAs of the different TAGs, i.e., TAG1, TAG2 and TAG3, the UE 302 may perform uplink transmission over the carrier with the TRP0 312, TRP1 314 and TRPn 322 according to uplink transmission timing adjusted based on their respective TAs.) (para [0076]: The UE 302 may receive scheduling information scheduling uplink transmission of the UE with a TRP on a carrier according to a TAG (‘Timing Advance Group’) associated with the TRP. In some embodiments, the UE 302 may receive first configuration information of the carrier of the serving cell 310 via a RRC configuration signaling (interpreted as “a configuration message including a serving cell configuration”). … The first, second, and third configuration information of the carrier may be transmitted by the TRP0 312 in one message or separate messages (interpreted as “a configuration message including a serving cell configuration and a bandwidth part configuration”),
wherein the serving cell configuration includes first timing advance information for a component carrier (para [0076]: The first configuration information may include/indicate an association between a first group of uplink signals and channels to be transmitted on the carrier by the UE in the serving cell 310 and the uplink TAG1 (interpreted as “the serving cell configuration includes first timing advance information for a component carrier”), and the TAG1 is associated with a first TA value. That is, the first configuration information of the carrier indicates that transmission of the first group of uplink signals and channels by the UE is according to the first TA value of the TAG1. The first configuration information may be transmitted by the TRP0 312 to the UE 302.), and
(The missing/crossed out limitations will be discussed in view of Nilsson.), (The missing/crossed out limitations will be discussed in view of Rong.);
transmit a first uplink signal to a first transmission reception point (TRP) using the bandwidth part (para [0076]: The UE 302 may then transmit, to the TRP0 312, a UL signal or a UL channel in the first group of UL signals or channels according to the first TA value …. The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP (interpreted as “using the bandwidth part”).) (The missing/crossed out limitations will be discussed in view of Nilsson.); and
transmit a second uplink signal to a second TRP using the bandwidth part based on at least a second timing advance value associated with the second timing advance information (para [0076]: the second configuration information of the carrier indicates that transmission of the second group of uplink signals and channels by the UE is according to the second TA value of the TAG2.) (The missing/crossed out limitations will be discussed in view of Nilsson.).
As noted above, Liu fails to teach the “wherein the bandwidth part configuration includes second timing advance information and third timing advance information for a bandwidth part of the component carrier, the second timing advance information and the third timing advance information each being specified by the bandwidth part configuration for the bandwidth part separately from the first timing advance information specified by the serving cell configuration for the component carrier” and “based on at least a first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information,” and “based on at least a second timing advance value associated with the second timing advance information.”
In analogous art, Nilsson teaches the wherein the bandwidth part configuration includes second timing advance information and third timing advance information for a bandwidth part of the component carrier (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications (interpreted as “the bandwidth part configuration includes second timing advance information and third timing advance information”) and one TAG ID (interpreted as “first timing advance information”) (also disclosed in Provisional Application No. 63/240,717, Fig. 19 and para [00206]: wherein it is assumed that one TAG ID is associated with two different TA (as in the embodiment described above e.g., illustrating a new TAG IE), the MAC-CE contains two TA offset indications, but only a single TAG ID….).
Examiner’s note: Turning to the Specification of the instant application, the instant application also discloses, in para [0176] of the Specification: the second timing advance information (e.g., the first timing advance offset identifier (TAoffsetId_0) 1820) and the third timing advance information (e.g., the second timing advance offset identifier (TAoffsetId_1) 1822) …);
transmit a first uplink signal to a first transmission reception point (TRP) using the bandwidth part based on a first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information and a second timing advance value associated with the second timing advance information (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID (interpreted as “a first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information”). In this case, there is an implicit mapping between the first TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 1”) (interpreted as “a second timing advance value associated with the second timing advance information”) and the TA associated with a first TRP,) (also disclosed in para [00206] of Provisional Application No. 63/240,717); and
transmit a second uplink signal to a second TRP using the bandwidth part based on the first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information and a third timing advance value associated with the third timing advance information (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID (interpreted as “a first timing advance value associated with the first timing advance information”). … an implicit mapping between the second TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 2”) (interpreted as “a third timing advance value associated with the third timing advance information”) and the TA associated with the second TRP.) (also disclosed in para [00206] of Provisional Application No. 63/240,717).
Liu and Nilsson are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of Uplink timing adjustment in multi-point communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Liu to incorporate the teachings (two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID) of Nilsson to transmit to the first TRP using a combination of the TAG ID (base) and second TA (offset 1), and to the second TRP using the TAG ID (base) and third TA (offset 2). The primary motivation for a POSITA to combine these features taught in Nilsson is to support Multi-TRP (mTRP) deployment where different TRPs have varying propagation delays. Utilizing a common base TA (First TA) with multiple offsets (second and third TA) significantly reduces signaling overhead compared to assigning entirely separated TAGs for each TRP. Furthermore, arranging these parameters within the RRC hierarchy (Serving Cell and BWP) follows the established 5G NR signaling protocols for carrier and bandwidth management. Thus, the claimed invention is a predicable application of Nilsson’s multiple TA offset logic within a standard 5G RRC configuration framework, providing no unexpected results beyond what is taught in the prior art.
Liu and Nilsson fail to explicitly teach the “the second timing advance information and the third timing advance information each being specified by the bandwidth part configuration for the bandwidth part separately from the first timing advance information specified by the serving cell configuration for the component carrier.”
In analogous art, Rong teaches specifying uplink timing parameters at the bandwidth part configuration level. Specifically, Rong teaches incorporating “UL-timing related parameters” directly into the (‘TAG-’) TCI-state Information Element (IE) via RRC signaling to support multi-TRP operations (see paragraphs [0134]-[0138] of Rong). Rong further teaches that the (‘TAG-’) TCI-state IE natively includes a bwp-Id (see para [0130] of Rong), establishing this configuration as a bandwidth part configuration separate from the baseline serving cell configuration. Paragraphs [0130], [0134] of Rong are reproduced herein below.
[0130] As discussed previously, the information of the source reference signal may be indicated in a TCI state, and a TCI state comprising indication of a source reference signal may serve the purpose of beam indication. According to 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07), a TCI state is configured by the TCI-State information element (IE), which is part of a RRC signaling. The fields included in the TCI-State IE is illustrated in Table 1 below:
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[0134] One approach to enabling inter-TRP beam pairing is to apply restriction to the two CRI or SSBRI reported in the reporting instance such that each CRI or SSBRI is from a different TRP. To achieve this, TRP identification is needed. In one embodiment, a groupID field may be indicated in the TCI-state information element. The groupID field serves as a TRP identification. An example of how to enhance the TCI-State IE to include the groupID field is illustrated in Table 2 below. In Table 2, the underlined parts are the enhancements to the TCI-state information element. Descriptions of each of the enhancement are provided below:
[0135] physCellId: this is the physical cell identity (PCI) of the serving cell or non-serving cell. With the PCI info added to the TCI state, the TCI states of non-serving cell can also be configured for the UE, which could enable the UE with faster candidate beam identification and beam failure recovery (BFR) utilizing the non-serving cell’s beams.
[0136] groupID: in multiple TRP case, this ID serve as the TRP identification. With this ID, the UE may, for example, identify the TRP source of the source reference signal. The UE may then avoid reporting multiple beams from the same TRP to facilitate inter-TRP beam pairing, considering the fact that it is not feasible for one TRP to transmit multiple beams simultaneously in FR2.
[0137] srs: this is the SRS resource identification. SRS may serve as source reference signal in beam indication.
[0138] Other parameters: the other parameters include UL-related parameters (e.g., power control related parameters such as path loss (PL) RS and Po/alpha, and UL-timing related parameters) which are necessary for the UE to perform UL communication. These other parameters may be included in the TCI-state IE and indicated to the UE such that the UE can perform UL communication in accordance with these parameters.
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As discussed above, Liu teaches multi-TAG configurations for multi-TRP communications within a carrier/BWP structure, and Nilsson teaches a structure where a single TAG ID is associated with multiple TA offsets (Timing Advance Commands 1 and 2).
As recited in amended claim 7, specifying the first timing advance information by serving cell configuration and separately specifying the second and third timing advance information by the bandwidth part configuration corresponds to the well-established RRC hierarchical parameter arrangement defined in 5G NR standard specifications such as Rong (see para [0130], [0134-0138] of Rong: “According to 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07), a TCI state is configured by the TCI-State information element (IE), which is part of a RRC signaling. The fields included in the TCI-State IE is illustrated in Table 1 below…”) (i.e., parameter segregation between ServingCellConfig and BWP-Uplink configurations).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Liu by incorporating Nilsson’s multiple TA offset logic within the standard 5G RRC framework. Utilizing a common base TA at the serving cell level combined with separate TA offsets at the BWP level to support mTRP deployments with varying propagation delays represents a predictable design choice that significantly reduces signaling overhead while following established 5G NR signaling protocols.
Regarding claim 18, it is a method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 7 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 7.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claim 6, Liu and Roing teach The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first timing advance information includes a timing advance group identifier (para [0075]: Each of the TAGs is associated with a TAG ID uniquely identifying a respective TAG.) and
Liu and Rong fail to teach the second timing advance information includes a timing advance offset identifier, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a first timing advance command including the timing advance group identifier and the first timing advance value; and receive a second timing advance command including the timing advance offset identifier and the second timing advance value, wherein the second timing advance value includes a timing advance offset value, and wherein the second uplink signal is transmitted to the second TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value.
In analogous art, Nilsson teaches the second timing advance information includes a timing advance offset identifier (para [0379] of Nilsson: the second TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 2”) (interpreted as “second timing advance information includes a timing advance offset identifier”) and the TA associated with the second TRP.), wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive a first timing advance command including the timing advance group identifier and the first timing advance value (para [00379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID. … the TA (interpreted as “the first timing advance value”) associated with the second TRP.); and
receive a second timing advance command including the timing advance offset identifier and the second timing advance value, wherein the second timing advance value includes a timing advance offset value, and wherein the second uplink signal is transmitted to the second TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value (para [0379] of Nilsson: the second TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 2”) (interpreted as “a second timing advance command including the timing advance offset identifier”) and the TA associated with the second TRP.) (claim 19 of Nilsson: wherein the first and the second groups of uplink channels and reference signals are transmitted towards a first transmission reception point, TRP, and a second TRP, respectively.).
Examiner’s note: The claim requires that the second uplink signal is transmitted to the second TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value. While Nilsson uses the term “offset,” a POSITA would recognize that in the field of wireless communications, an “offset indication” is mathematically applied to a base value (the TA associated with the TAG ID) to derive the final timing. Therefore, the claimed “sum” is taught or at least suggested by the offset-based update(adjust) mechanism described in Nilsson.
Liu, Rong and Nilsson are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of Uplink timing adjustment in multi-point communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a combination of Liu and Rong to incorporate the teachings (two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID) of Nilsson to transmit to the second TRP using a combination of the TAG ID (base) and second TA (offset 1). The primary motivation for a POSITA to combine these features taught in Nilsson is to support Multi-TRP (mTRP) deployment where different TRPs have varying propagation delays. Utilizing a common base TA (First TA) with multiple offsets (second and third TA) significantly reduces signaling overhead compared to assigning entirely separated TAGs for each TRP. Furthermore, arranging these parameters within the RRC hierarchy (Serving Cell and BWP) follows the established 5G NR signaling protocols for carrier and bandwidth management. Thus, the claimed invention is a predicable application of Nilsson’s multiple TA offset logic within a standard 5G RRC configuration framework, providing no unexpected results beyond what is taught in the prior art.
Regarding claim 8, Liu, Rong, and Nilsson teach The apparatus of claim 7, Nilsson further teaches wherein the first timing advance information includes a timing advance group identifier, the second timing advance information includes a first timing advance offset identifier, and the third timing advance information includes a second timing advance offset identifier (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID (interpreted as “a timing advance group identifier”). In this case, there is an implicit mapping between the first TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 1”) (interpreted as “a first timing advance offset identifier”) and the TA associated with a first TRP, and an implicit mapping between the second TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 2”) (interpreted as “a second timing advance offset identifier”) and the TA associated with the second TRP.), wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive a first timing advance command including the timing advance group identifier and the first timing advance value (para [0377] of Nilsson: the bitfield called “Timing Advance Command 1” (interpreted as “a first timing advance command including the timing advance group identifier”) is used to indicate the TA offset (interpreted as “first timing advance value”) for the TA configured with TAG ID1,);
receive a second timing advance command including the first timing advance offset identifier and the second timing advance value (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID. In this case, there is an implicit mapping between the first TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 1”) (interpreted as “a second timing advance command including the first timing advance offset identifier and the second timing advance value”, a TA offset indicated in TA Command 1 is interpreted as “second timing advance value” ) and the TA associated with a first TRP,), wherein the second timing advance value includes a first timing advance offset value (the TA offset indicated in TA Command 1 is interpreted as “the second timing advance value includes a first timing advance offset value” ), and wherein the first uplink signal is transmitted to the first TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID (interpreted as “the first timing advance value”). In this case, there is an implicit mapping between the first TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 1”) (interpreted as “a second timing advance value associated with the second timing advance information”) and the TA associated with a first TRP,) (claim 19 of Nilsson: wherein the first and the second groups of uplink channels and reference signals are transmitted towards a first transmission reception point, TRP, and a second TRP, respectively.); and
receive a third timing advance command including the second timing advance offset identifier and the third timing advance value (para [0379] of Nilsson: where one TAG ID may be associated with two different TA, control element 100 (e.g., MAC-CE) may include two (or more) TA offset indications and one TAG ID. … an implicit mapping between the second TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 2”) (interpreted as “a third timing advance command including the second timing advance offset identifier and the third timing advance value”, a TA offset indicated in TA Command 2 is interpreted as “third timing advance value” ) and the TA associated with the second TRP.), wherein the third timing advance value includes a second timing advance offset value (the TA offset indicated in TA Command 2 is interpreted as “the third timing advance value includes a second timing advance offset value” ), and wherein the second uplink signal is transmitted to the second TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the third timing advance value (para [0379] of Nilsson: an implicit mapping between the second TA offset indication (“Timing Advance Command 2”) and the TA associated with the second TRP.)) (claim 19 of Nilsson: wherein the first and the second groups of uplink channels and reference signals are transmitted towards a first transmission reception point, TRP, and a second TRP, respectively.).
Examiner’s note: The claim requires that the first uplink signal is transmitted to the first TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the second timing advance value, and the second uplink signal is transmitted to the second TRP based on a sum of the first timing advance value and the third timing advance value. While Nilsson uses the term “offset,” a POSITA would recognize that in the field of wireless communications, an “offset indication” is mathematically applied to a base value (the TA associated with the TAG ID) to derive the final timing. Therefore, the claimed “sum” is taught or at least suggested by the offset-based update(adjust) mechanism described in Nilsson.
Regarding claim 9, Liu, Rong, and Nilsson teach The apparatus of claim 8, Liu further teaches wherein the bandwidth part configuration enables multi-TRP operation for the bandwidth part (para [0070]: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods for M-TRP communications of a UE in a serving cell over the same carrier/BWP of the serving cell, with separate TAGs configured for multiple TRPs (interpreted as “the bandwidth part configuration enables multi-TRP operation for the bandwidth part”) in the M-TRP communications.)(also see para [0076] as discussed above).
Regarding claim 10, Liu, Rong, and Nilsson teach The apparatus of claim 7, Liu further teaches wherein the bandwidth part is one of a plurality of bandwidth parts associated with the component carrier (Fig. 7B; “BWP-Id” and para [0076]: FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate embodiment configuration information that may be sent to the UE, indicating an association of a TAG with an uplink transmission by the UE. … The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP.), and wherein the second timing advance information and the third timing advance information for the bandwidth part is not associated with one or more different bandwidth parts of the plurality of bandwidth parts (para [0060]: A cell may include one or more bandwidth pails (BWPs) for UL or DL allocated for a UE. Each BWP may have its own BWP-specific numerology and configuration (interpreted as “the bandwidth part is not associated with one or more different bandwidth parts of the plurality of bandwidth parts”), such as the BWP's bandwidth.).
Regarding claim 11, Liu, Rong, and Nilsson teach The apparatus of claim 10, Liu further teaches wherein the one or more different bandwidth parts of the plurality of bandwidth parts are configured for single TRP operation (para [0003]: A NodeB may be associated with a single network point or multiple network points.) (para [0076]: The first, second and third groups of UL signals and channels may be configured with a same subcarrier spacing (SCS) within a same BWP. Both the second and the third groups may be configured, or only one of the groups may be configured.). Examiner’s note: Liu teaches the flexibility of TRP configurations within the carrier/BWP structure (see para [0003]). Specifically, Liu discloses that for different groups of signals (which are associated with distinct TAGs), “both the second and the third groups may be configured, or only one of the groups may be configured” (see para [0076] of Liu). Thus, configuring only one group (TAG) for a transmission corresponds to a “single TRP operation” as recited in the claim.
Regarding claim 17, Claim 17, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 6, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 6.
Regarding claim 19, Claim 19, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 8, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 8.
Regarding claim 20, Claim 20, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 9, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 9.
Regarding claim 21, Claim 21, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 10, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 10.
Regarding claim 22, Claim 22, has similar limitation as of Claim(s) 11, therefore it is rejected under the same reasons as Claim(s) 11.
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.
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/WON JUN CHOI/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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