DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-7, 9, and 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Khoshnevisan et al. (US 2024/0048305, “Khoshnevisan”).
Regarding claim 1, Khoshnevisan discloses a method comprising:
- receiving, by a wireless device, configuration parameters comprising: a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set list parameter indicating two SRS resource sets (See 1005 Fig.10, UE receives a configuration information of two SRS resource set; See ¶.128, the configuration information may indicate an associated resource set index (e.g., SRS resource set index)); and a parameter indicating application of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a configured uplink grant (See Fig.5 and ¶.84, a first TRP 505 may use a first QCL relationship or a first TCI state for a first set of DMRS ports corresponding to a first set of layers, and a second TRP 505 may use a second (different) QCL relationship or a second (different) TCI state for a second (different) set of DMRS ports corresponding to a second (different) set of layers. In some aspects, a TCI state in downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., transmitted on the PDCCH, such as DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1) may indicate the first QCL relationship (e.g., by indicating a first TCI state) and the second QCL relationship (e.g., by indicating a second TCI state). The first and the second TCI states may be indicated using a TCI field in the DCI. In general, the TCI field can indicate a single TCI state (for single-TRP transmission) or multiple TCI states (for multi-TRP transmission as discussed here) in this multi-TRP transmission mode (e.g., Mode 1); See ¶.108, the UE may be scheduled via a single DCI that schedules a PUSCH with two sets of resource blocks (RBs) to be transmitted via two antenna groups with different transmission parameters. The two sets of RBs may be associated with two SRS resource sets. The DCI may include an SRS resource set indicator field, two SRI fields, and/or two TPMI fields; See ¶.109, the UE may transmit a first PUSCH 905 with a first TCI (e.g., beam or spatial relation) via a first set of RBs and a second PUSCH 910 with a second TCI via a second set of RBs that overlap in time (e.g., use at least one common symbol) with the first PUSCH 905; See ¶.117, the UE may be configured to transmit PUSCH using one or more same antenna ports as one or more SRS ports in one or more SRS resources indicated by one or more SRIs given by a DCI (e.g., a scheduling DCI) or a configured grant configuration. The SRS port in (i+1)th SRS resource in the SRS resource set is indexed as 1000+i. The UE may also be configured with only one SRS resource set with usage “non-codebook),
- wherein: a first value of the parameter indicating application of a TCI state indicates to apply a first indicated TCI state to physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission associated with the configured uplink grant; and a second value of the parameter indicating application of a TCI state indicates to apply a second indicated TCI state to PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant (See 905 & 910 Fig.9 and ¶.109, the UE may transmit a first PUSCH with a first TCI (e.g., beam or spatial relation) via a first set of RBs and a second PUSCH with a second TCI via a second set of RBs that overlap in time (e.g., use at least one common symbol) with the first PUSCH; See Fig.9
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); and
- transmitting, via one or more PUSCH occasions, a first PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant using (See Fig.9 & Fig.11, first PUSCH and second PUSCH): a first SRS resource set, of the two SRS resource sets, based on applying the first indicated TCI state; or a second SRS resource set, of the two SRS resource sets, based on applying the second indicated TCI state (See ¶.109, the UE may transmit a first PUSCH with a first TCI (e.g., beam or spatial relation) via a first set of RBs and a second PUSCH with a second TCI via a second set of RBs with the first PUSCH; See further ¶.91, ¶.97, ¶.111-112, and ¶.115).
Regarding claim 3, Khoshnevisan discloses “the parameter indicating application of a TCI state indicates a value that is one of the first value or the second value (See Fig.9, first TCI and second TCI for PUSCH).”
Regarding claim 4, Khoshnevisan discloses “the SRS resource set list parameter indicating two SRS resource sets indicates that a usage of the two SRS resource sets is set to either codebook or non-codebook (See ¶.92, the PUSCH may be codebook (CB)-based PUSCH or non-CB (NCB) PUSCH. For CB-based PUSCH, the DCI may also indicate transmission precoding matrix index (TPMI) fields to indicate two precoders for the two sets of repetitions; See ¶.118, in a case of TDM-based PUSCH, even though two SRS resource sets may be configured with usage “noncodebook,” the port numbering rule may be acceptable if PUSCH transmissions (e.g., repetitions) associated with different SRS resource sets were non-overlapping in time (e.g., in different slots or different actual repetitions)).”
Regarding claim 5, Khoshnevisan discloses “the parameter indicating application of a TCI state comprises an apply-indicated-TCI-state parameter (See ¶.89, the DCI may schedule the PUSCH repetitions with different transmission parameters, such as beams, spatial relations, TCI states, power control parameters, and/or precoding; See further ¶.115, ¶.132, and ¶.176).”
Regarding claim 6, Khoshnevisan discloses “the configuration parameters comprise radio resource control parameters (See ¶.122, adding RRC related information into PUSCH).”
Regarding claim 7, Khoshnevisan discloses “a third value of the parameter indicating application of a TCI state indicates to apply both of: the first indicated TCI state to PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant; and the second indicated TCI state to PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant (See Fig.9 and ¶.111, the UE may transmit a first PUSCH with a first TCI via a first set of RBs with a second TCI via a second set of RBs that overlap in time (e.g., use at least one common symbol). In this case the UE transmits the same data via both TCIs, spatial relations, and/or beams).”
Regarding claim 9, it is a method claim performed by a base station corresponding to the method claim performed by a wireless device and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 11-15, they are claims corresponding to claims 3-7, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
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 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 2, 10, and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan in view of Pelletier et al. (US 2014/0056243, “Pelletier”).
Regarding claim 2, Khoshnevisan discloses a multiple set of layers (See Fig.7,
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but, does not explicitly disclose what Pelletier discloses “the configuration parameters further indicate a first timing advance group (TAG) and a second TAG for a cell, and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, via an uplink transmission occasion of the cell, a first uplink transmission using: one or more first layers and the first TAG; and one or more second layers and the second TAG (Pelletier, See ¶.261, configuration information for the secondary layer may be applicable to a second group of cells served by a serving site associated with the secondary layer (e.g., a SCeNB). The cells secondary layer may be scheduled independently of cells of other layers. The configuration for the secondary layer may include configuration information for a PCell and zero or more SCell(s). In an example, the cells of a given layer may be associated with the same Timing Advance Group; See ¶.332, primary layer related with a TAG); and based on a first time alignment timer of the first TAG expiring, transmitting, via the uplink transmission occasion of the cell, a second uplink transmission using: the one or more first layers and the second TAG; and the one or more second layers and the second TAG (Pelletier, See ¶.332, the WTRU may be configured to perform measurements on a cell associated with the inactive layer (e.g., primary layer) based on the WTRU losing timing alignment with currently active layer (e.g., timing alignment timer (TAT) expiry, for example wherein the TAT of the PCell of the active layer expires).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “the configuration parameters further indicate a first timing advance group (TAG) and a second TAG for a cell, and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, via an uplink transmission occasion of the cell, a first uplink transmission using: one or more first layers and the first TAG; and one or more second layers and the second TAG” as taught by Pelletier into the system of Khoshnevisan, so that it provides a way for a WTRU to be configured to perform measurements on a cell associated with primary layer based on the WTRU losing timing alignment with currently timing alignment timer (TAT) expiry (Pelletier, See ¶.332).
Regarding claim 10, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 2 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claim 16, it is a method claim corresponding to the claims 1 & 2 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Regarding claim 17, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claim 18, Khoshnevisan discloses “the one or more configuration parameters comprise a multiple panel scheme parameter set to a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) scheme (See ¶.118, single DCI based SDM schemes).”
Regarding claim 19, Khoshnevisan discloses “the uplink transmission occasion is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion (See Fig.9, PUSCH).”
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoshnevisan in view of Zhu et al. (US 2023/0189238, “Zhu”).
Regarding claim 8, Khoshnevisan discloses “the first indicated TCI state, based on the first value or the third value; or the second indicated TCI state, based on the second value (Khoshnevisan, See Fig.9),” but does not explicitly disclose what Zhu discloses, “receiving downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a retransmission of a second PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant; and transmitting the second PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant (Zhu, See ¶.278, if the UE is provided two SRS resource sets in srs-Resource Set To Add Mod List or srs-ResourceSetToAddModListDCI-0-2 with usage set to “codebook” or “non-Codebook,” and is provided p0-PUSCH-Alpha2, for a retransmission of a configured grant Type 1 PUSCH, or for activation or retransmission of a configured grant Type 2 PUSCH, scheduled by a DCI format that includes/indicates, e.g., one or more Rel. 17 unified TCI states, and for active BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “receiving downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a retransmission of a second PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant; and transmitting the second PUSCH transmission associated with the configured uplink grant” as taught by Zhu into the system of Khoshnevisan, so that it provides a way of retransmitting a configured grant type 1 PUSCH or type 2 PUSCH scheduled by a DCI (Zhu, See ¶.278).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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/JUNG H PARK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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