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.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 11, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20230073095), hereinafter referred as Kim in view of Song et al (US 12609752), hereinafter referred to as Song.
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Kim teaches a first node for wireless communications [see fig. 21, first UE device 100] comprising:
a first receiver [terminal 100 comprising a transceiver 106 in fig. 21] receiving a reference information block [UE in S2005 receiving reference/configuration information block, see fig. 20-21, 0390-0391, 0408-0410]; wherein the reference information block is used to configure a first CORESET [see paragraph 0390, For example, the configuration information may include CORESET related configuration information (e.g., ControlResourceSet IE) described in embodiment 1, 2, and/or 3. The CORESET related configuration information may include a CORESET related ID (e.g., controlResourceSetID), an index of a CORESET pool for a CORESET (e.g., CORESETPoolIndex), a time/frequency resource configuration of a CORESET, CORESET related TCI information];
a first RS (Reference Signal) resource set [reference signals such as CSI-RS, Channel state information reference and DMRS, see 0051-0057] is used for a radio link quality assessment of the first BWP [RS resource sets such as CSI-RS and DMRS are used for radio link quality assessment], the first RS resource set depends on a first TCI (Transmission Configuration Indication) state set, the first TCI state set comprises at least one TCI state of at least one CORESET in the first CORESET pool [reference signals sets depend on TC state sets and each TCI set comprises one or more TCI state of a CORESET in the pool, see 0051-0057, Table 6, Table 7];
CORESET including two TCI states in the first CORESET pool [a Coreset has multiple TCI states, see paragraphs 0347-0350, Tables 6-8];
the two TCI states of the target CORESET respectively indicate QCL (quasi co-location) information for a PDCCH reception in the target CORESET in different PDCCH monitoring occasions [each TCI state corresponds to QCL information for a DMRS antenna port for PDCH reception and are used in different monitoring occasion, see paragraph 0347-0350, Table 6-8];
the first TCI state set comprises only one of the two TCI states of the target CORESET [See table 7 and paragraph 0349-0350, TCI state set can have two TCI states of which one of two TCI states may be a subset]. While Kim teaches a Coreset has multiple TCI states, Kim is silent specifically about “a target CORESET” is a CORESET including two TCI states in the first CORESET pool. Song in the same field of endeavor teaches in the abstract of beam failure detection reference signal set and a CORESET group. Song specifically teaches in column 5, lines 4-31 of reference signals associated with all QCL-TypeD of the two TCI states of a target CORESET, where the target CORESET is one of the at least one CORESET or all of the at least one CORESET. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teaching of a “target CORESET” including TCI states as taught by Song into the invention of Kim in order to achieve high reliability for channel assessment and configurability.
Regarding claim 6 and 16, Kim teaches second node for wireless communications [see fig. 21, second (Network) device 200] comprising: a second transmitter, transmitting a reference information block [Network side transmitting configuration information to UE in S2005, see fig. 20-21, 0390-0391, 0408-0410]; wherein the reference information block is used to configure a first CORESET [see paragraph 0390, For example, the configuration information may include CORESET related configuration information (e.g., ControlResourceSet IE) described in embodiment 1, 2, and/or 3. The CORESET related configuration information may include a CORESET related ID (e.g., controlResourceSetID), an index of a CORESET pool for a CORESET (e.g., CORESETPoolIndex), a time/frequency resource configuration of a CORESET, CORESET related TCI information];
a first RS (Reference Signal) resource set [reference signals such as CSI-RS, Channel state information reference and DMRS, see 0051-0057] is used for a radio link quality assessment of the first BWP [RS resource sets such as CSI-RS and DMRS are used for radio link quality assessment], the first RS resource set depends on a first TCI (Transmission Configuration Indication) state set, the first TCI state set comprises at least one TCI state of at least one CORESET in the first CORESET pool [reference signals sets depend on TC state sets and each TCI set comprises one or more TCI state of a CORESET in the pool, see 0051-0057, Table 6, Table 7];
CORESET including two TCI states in the first CORESET pool [a Coreset has multiple TCI states, see paragraphs 0347-0350, Tables 6-8];
the two TCI states of the target CORESET respectively indicate QCL (quasi co-location) information for a PDCCH reception in the target CORESET in different PDCCH monitoring occasions [each TCI state corresponds to QCL information for a DMRS antenna port for PDCH reception and are used in different monitoring occasion, see paragraph 0347-0350, Table 6-8];
the first TCI state set comprises only one of the two TCI states of the target CORESET [See table 7 and paragraph 0349-0350, TCI state set can have two TCI states of which one of two TCI states may be a subset]. While Kim teaches a Coreset has multiple TCI states, Kim is silent specifically about “a target CORESET” is a CORESET including two TCI states in the first CORESET pool. Song in the same field of endeavor teaches in the abstract of beam failure detection reference signal set and a CORESET group. Song specifically teaches in column 5, lines 4-31 of reference signals associated with all QCL-TypeD of the two TCI states of a target CORESET, where the target CORESET is one of the at least one CORESET or all of the at least one CORESET. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teaching of a “target CORESET” including TCI states as taught by Song into the invention of Kim in order to achieve high reliability for channel assessment and configurability.
Claims 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20230073095), hereinafter referred as Kim in view of Song et al (US 12609752), hereinafter referred to as Song and further in view of Zhu et al (US 20240259843), hereinafter referred as Zhu1.
Regarding claim 2, 7, 12 and 17, Kim in view of Song teaches comprising: the first receiver, receiving a first information block and the second transmitter, transmitting a first block information [see Kim fig. 2 device 1 and device 2]; wherein the first information block is used to determine a reference time-domain resource set [see Kim table 6 where duration , “monitoringsymbolwithinslot” and “reference information block” for resource configuration]; the two TCI states of the target CORESET respectively indicate QCL information of a DMRS antenna port for a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) reception in the target CORESET in a PDCCH monitoring occasion in the reference time domain resource set, and QCL information of a DMRS antenna port for a PDCCH reception [each TCI state corresponds to QCL information for a DMRS antenna port for PDCH reception and are used in different monitoring occasion clearly establishing the reference block is used to configure time/frequency resources including time domain resources for monitoring occasions…note each TCI state can be mapped to a different monitoring occasion, see Kim paragraph 0347-0350, Table 6-8] in the target CORESET [Song teaches in column 5, lines 4-31 of reference signals associated with all QCL-TypeD of the two TCI states of a target CORESET, where the target CORESET is one of the at least one CORESET or all of the at least one CORESET]. While Kim in view of Song may suggest monitoring occasion “in” and “outside” the reference time-domain, combination is explicitly silent on PDCCH monitoring occasion outside the reference time domain resource set. Zhu1 in the same field of endeavor teaches of in paragraph 0556-0580 of monitoring PDCCH in all CORESETs or one or more CORESETS associated/corresponding to the first TCI and second TCI states. Note, the first and second PDCCH could be non-overlapping in time and frequency and could be received in search space sets. This clearly establishes that TCI states are mapped to different PDCCH monitoring occasions which are inside and outside a time/frequency reference set. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include monitoring PDCCH outside the reference time-domain resource set as taught by Zhu1 into the invention of Kim in view of Song in order to flexibly accommodate various services/applications with varying requirements to support multiple access schemes and connections.
Regarding claim 3, 8, 13 and 18, wherein the first TCI state set comprises a TCI state indicating QCL information of a DMRS antenna port for a PDCCH reception [each TCI state corresponds to QCL information for a DMRS antenna port for PDCH reception and are used in different monitoring occasion clearly establishing the reference block is used to configure time/frequency resources including time domain resources for monitoring occasions…note each TCI state can be mapped to a different monitoring occasion, see Kim paragraph 0347-0350, Table 6-8] in the target CORESET in a PDCCH monitoring occasion [Song teaches in column 5, lines 4-31 of reference signals associated with all QCL-TypeD of the two TCI states of a target CORESET, where the target CORESET is one of the at least one CORESET or all of the at least one CORESET]. While Kim in view of Song may suggest monitoring occasion “in” and “outside” the reference time-domain, combination is explicitly silent on PDCCH monitoring occasion outside the reference time domain resource set of the target CORESET. Zhu1 in the same field of endeavor teaches of in paragraph 0556-0580 of monitoring PDCCH in all CORESETs or one or more CORESETS associated/corresponding (note, associated/corresponding is interpreted as target) to the first TCI and second TCI states. Note, the first and second PDCCH could be non-overlapping in time and frequency and could be received in search space sets. This clearly establishes that TCI states are mapped to different PDCCH monitoring occasions which are inside and outside a time/frequency reference set. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include monitoring PDCCH outside the reference time-domain resource set of the target CORESET as taught by Zhu1 into the invention of Kim in view of Song in order to flexibly accommodate various services/applications with varying requirements to support multiple access schemes and connections.
Claims 4, 9, 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20230073095), hereinafter referred as Kim in view of Song et al (US 12609752), hereinafter referred to as Song and further in view of Zhu et al (US 20240121800), hereinafter referred as Zhu.
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Note, claim is written in an alternate form, Kim in view of Song are silent on wherein configuration information of the first serving cell does not comprise a higher-layer parameter configuring SFN (Single Frequency Network) scheme for PDCCH. Zhu et al in the same field of endeavor teaches in the abstract of TCI state indication and association for control and data channels. Zhu further teaches in paragraph 0139, 0158, and 0432 of condition when higher layer parameter is set to disabled. The UE could follow the association/mapping between the CORESET and indicated TCI pairs and which TCI states to use/apply for receiving PDCCH candidates in any CORESET. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teaches of target counter used for counting the beam failure for the first serving cell as taught by Zhu into the invention of Kim in view of Song in order to flexibly accommodate various services/applications with varying requirements to support multiple access schemes and connections.
Claims 5, 10, 15 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20230073095), hereinafter referred as Kim in view of Song et al (US 12609752), hereinafter referred to as Song and further in view of Wu et al (CN 112867048), hereinafter referred as Wu.
Regarding claims 5, 10, 15 and 20 (written in alternate language), Kim in view of Song are silent on wherein when a value of a target counter is equal to or greater than a target threshold, a beam failure recovery for a first serving cell is triggered; wherein the first BWP is a BWP of the first serving cell; when the radio link quality assessed according to the first RS resource set is worse than a reference threshold, physical layer of the first node transmits a beam failure instance indication for the first serving cell to its higher layer; the target counter is used for counting the beam failure instance indication for the first serving cell. Wu teaches of obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprises target control resource set CORESET for target measurement and target measurement time corresponding to the target CORESET; the target measurement includes at least one of a radio link monitoring RLM measurement and a beam failure detection BFD measurement. Wu teaches on page 5, second paragraph of the UE measuring the PDCCH-BLER corresponding to all Beam Failure Detection Reference Signal on the BWP activated by a serving cell such that the serving cell UE is higher than a certain BLER threshold and if higher reporting a BFI indication to the high layer. In other words, physical layer of the node transmits a bean failure instance indication to its higher layer and a target beam failure event counter is used for counting instance indication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teaches of target counter used for counting the beam failure for the first serving cell as taught by Wu into the invention of Kim in view of Song in order to reliably invoke a beam failure recovery process that minimizes delay and unnecessary traffic load in turn increasing system performance.
Conclusion
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/CHIRAG G SHAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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