DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on December 10, 2025.
Claims 21-40 are pending in the application. Claims 1-20 have been canceled.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on July 19, 2024 and December 3, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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 21-40 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.
Regarding claims 21 and 31, the limitation “a second cell that is added by the UE” is vague and indefinite. The metes and bounds of the limitation are not clearly defined. One of ordinary skill in the art would not understand what “a second cell that is added by the UE” or the UE adding a second cell means.
Claims 22-30 and 32-40 depend on claims 21 and 31, respectively, and are therefore rejected for the same reason.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 21, 23-31, and 33-40 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11,510,180 in view of 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 (Citation number 10 under Non-Patent Literature Documents in IDS filed on 12/03/2025).
Regarding claims 21 and 31 of the current application, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose a method performed by a user equipment (UE) (see claims 1 and 7 of USPN 11,510,810) comprising:
a receiver (see claim 7, a first receiver) configured to:
receive the plurality of reference signals, wherein at least one reference signal of the plurality of reference signals is received from a first cell that is not added by the UE and that is not a primary cell (PCell) of the UE (see claims 1 and 7); and
a transmitter (see claim 7, a first transmitter) configured to a radio signal, on a second cell that is added by the UE, that indicates a first reference signal out of the plurality of reference signals (see claims 1 and 7); and
the receiver further configured to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in the search space assuming that an antenna port of the PDCCH is quasi- co-located (QCL) with an antenna port of the first reference signal (see claims 1 and 7).
Claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 do not explicitly disclose receiving radio resource control (RRC) signaling that indicates a plurality of reference signals and indicates a search space for downlink control information.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 discloses receiving radio resource control (RRC) signaling that indicates a plurality of reference signals and indicates a search space for downlink control information (see at least section 6.2 and 6.3.2 on pages 59-61, 90, and 198, RRC message, sent from a network to a UE, including CSI-ResourceConfig defining a group of one or more NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet and CSI-SSB-ResourceSet and SearchSpace defining how/where to search for PDCCH candidates).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to implement the Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN.
Regarding claims 23 and 33, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose all of the subject matter of claims 21 and 31 as described above but do not explicitly disclose that the radio signal is a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble and a resource of the PRACH preamble or an index of the PRACH preamble indicates the first reference signal.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 discloses that the radio signal is a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble and a resource of the PRACH preamble or an index of the PRACH preamble indicates the first reference signal (see at least section 5.2.2.3.3, preamble transmission procedure using the indicated PRACH preamble and indicated PRACH resource).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to implement the Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN.
Regarding claims 24 and 34, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose all of the subject matter of claims 21 and 31 as described above but do not explicitly disclose the RRC signaling further provides zeroCorrelationZoneConfig or restrictedSetConfig, and the PRACH preamble corresponding to the first reference signal is generated by the UE using the zeroCorrelationZoneConfig or restrictedSetConfig.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 discloses that the radio signal is a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble and a resource of the PRACH preamble or an index of the PRACH preamble indicates the first reference signal (see at least section 6.3.2 on page 173, RACH-ConfigGeneric field including zeroCorrelationZoneConfig field specifying the cell specific random-access parameters both for regular random access as well as for beam failure recovery).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to implement the Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN.
Regarding claims 25-27 and 35-37, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose all of the subject matter of claims 21 and 31 as described above but do not explicitly disclose the RRC signaling comprises an information element for beam receovery that includes: a list that indicates the plurality of reference signals, a recovery search space ID that identifies the search space, and information associating, for each reference signal of the plurality of reference signals, a preamble index or a PRACH resource; wherein the PRACH preamble is transmitted using the preamble index or PRACH resource associated with the first reference signal; wherein the recovery search space ID further identifies a time window, and the UE monitors the PDCCH in a plurality of time-frequency resource blocks belonging to a section of the search space in the time window; wherein the RRC information element (IE) is a BeamFailureRecoveryConfig IE, the list is a candidateBeamRSList, the recovery search space ID is a recoverySearchSpaceID, and the information is PRACH-ResourceDedicatedBFR information.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 discloses that an information element for beam recovery that includes: a list that indicates the plurality of reference signals, a recovery search space ID that identifies the search space, and information associating, for each reference signal of the plurality of reference signals, a preamble index or a PRACH resource; wherein the PRACH preamble is transmitted using the preamble index or PRACH resource associated with the first reference signal; wherein the recovery search space ID further identifies a time window, and the UE monitors the PDCCH in a plurality of time-frequency resource blocks belonging to a section of the search space in the time window; wherein the RRC information element (IE) is a BeamFailureRecoveryConfig IE, the list is a candidateBeamRSList, the recovery search space ID is a recoverySearchSpaceID, and the information is PRACH-ResourceDedicatedBFR information (see at least section 6.3.2 and pages 72-73 and 198-200, BeamFailureRecoveryConfig includes candidateBeamRSList, recoverySearchSpaceID, and PRACH-ResourceDedicatedBFR, where a search space indicates how/where to search for PDCCH candidates including a duration).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to implement the Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN.
Regarding claims 28 and 38, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose all of the subject matter of claims 21 and 31 as described above but do not explicitly disclose that the plurality of reference signals include at least one non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP-CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 discloses that the plurality of reference signals include at least one non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP-CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block (see at least section 6.3.2 on pages 131-133, NZP-CSI-RS).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to implement the Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN.
Regarding claims 29 and 39, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose that a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) that is scrambled with a cell radio temporary network identifier (C-RNTI) of the UE (see claims 1 and 7) but do not explicitly disclose that the PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) for the UE and the DCI includes the CRC.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 discloses that the PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) for the UE and the DCI includes the CRC (see at least section 6.3.2 on pages 198-200, the UE monitors the DCI carried in PDCCH with CRC scrambled by format-dependent RNTI).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to implement the Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN.
Regarding claims 30 and 40, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180 disclose that at least one of the plurality of reference signals is received from the second cell (see claims 2 and 8).
Claims 22 and 32 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11,510,180 in view of 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1 (Citation number 10 under Non-Patent Literature Documents in IDS filed on 12/03/2025), and further in view of 3GPP TS 38.214 V15.2.0 (Citation number 6 under Non-Patent Literature Documents in IDS filed on 12/03/2025).
Regarding claims 22 and 32, claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,180, as modified by 3GPP TS 38.331 V15.2.1, disclose all of the subject matter of the invention except an antenna port of a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) of the PDCCH being QCL with the antenna port of the first reference signal.
However, in an analogous art, 3GPP TS 38.214 V15.2.0 discloses an antenna port of a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) of the PDCCH being QCL with the antenna port of the first reference signal (see at least section 5.1.5, a QCL relationship between one or two downlink reference signals and the DM-RS ports).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the RRC signaling as taught by 3GPP TS 38.214 V15.2.0 in to the invention of claims 1-20 of USPN 11,510,810 in order to decode PDSCH according to a detected PDCCH with DCI intended for the UE and the given serving cell.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0229879 (Yi et al.) discloses Quasi co-location (QCL) between antenna ports.
U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0052339 (Zhou et al.) discloses spatial QCL assumption between a first DL RS antenna port for CSI-RS and a second DL RS antenna port for demodulation of a DL control channel.
U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0253986 (Jeon et al.) discloses channel estimation and/or time and/or frequency synchronization based on a QCL assumption of one or more antenna ports.
U.S. Pub. No. 2020/0274606 (Kang et al.) discloses beam failure recovery, where the beam failure detection RS includes a case of measuring the demodulation quality of a radio channel using the RS and a QCL indicator as well as measuring the quality of the corresponding RS.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Pawaris Sinkantarakorn whose telephone number is (571)270-1424. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm.
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/PAO SINKANTARAKORN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409 06/30/2026
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