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 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 person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nilsson et al. (US 2025/0167968).
With regard to claim 1, Nilsson teaches: An information transmission method, wherein the method is applicable to a terminal device, and the method comprises:
determining, based on at least one piece of spatial information associated with at least one group of uplink information, at least one first transmission parameter set used by the at least one group of uplink information (paragraphs 169-180: step 1420 in figure 14, determining spatial filter for one TCI sets.
178] In some embodiments, the multiple activated unified TCI states are joint uplink/downlink TCI states. In some embodiments, each joint TCI state is applicable for both downlink transmissions and uplink transmissions.
[0179] In some embodiments, the multiple activated unified TCI states are uplink TCI states. In some embodiments, each uplink TCI state is applicable only for uplink transmissions.
[0180] In some embodiments, the method further comprises determining, for each of the one or more uplink channels or signals, a spatial filter for the uplink channel or signal based on one or more activated unified TCI states that are associated with the uplink channel or signal according to the configuration received for that uplink channel or signal (Block 1420). In one or more of these embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting the one or more uplink channels or signals using the one or more spatial filters determined for the one or more uplink channels or signals (Block 1430).
) ; and
sending, based on the at least one first transmission parameter set, the at least one group of uplink information to a network device (paragraphs 169-180: step 1430 in figure 14, transmitting uplink channels using one or more spatial filters. Also see paragraphs 61-62 and figure 2 for TCI information.
[0061] In this context, the communication device 12 is configured to employ a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) state framework. A TCI state contains quasi co-location (QCL) information between antenna ports of the communication device 12. Two antenna ports are QCL if properties of the channel over which a transmission on one antenna port is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which a transmission on the other antenna port is conveyed. That is, the communication device 12 can assume that properties of the channel over which a transmission on one antenna port is conveyed are the same as the properties of the channel over which a transmission on the other antenna port is conveyed. A TCI state therefore indicates a QCL relation or assumption between antenna ports, e.g., a source port and a target port. In a spatial relation TCI state framework, a TCI state applies to an individual channel or signal. In a unified TCI state framework, by contrast, a TCI state applies to multiple channels or signals. FIG. 2 shows one example of a unified TCI state 30, which as shown may consist of a TCI state identity (ID) 30A and one or more QCL information objects 30B, e.g., each of which may comprise a serving cell ID 31, a bandwidth part (BWP) ID 32, a reference signal (RS) index 33, and one or more QCL types 34.
[0062] Returning back to FIG. 1, multiple unified TCI states 16 are activated for the communication device 12. In one embodiment, for example, one unified TCI state is activated per TRP, e.g., for use in transmitting multiple uplink channels or signals towards that TRP. Activation of the multiple unified TCI states 16 as used herein means that the unified TCI states 16 are to be used by the communication device 12, e.g., for determining spatial filters for uplink transmissions.
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With regard to claims 12 and 20, Nilsson teaches: A terminal device, comprising:
a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory (see figure 19 for processing circuitry and memory: paragraphs 222-223 and 226-228), so as to enable the terminal device to perform:
determining, based on at least one piece of spatial information associated with at least one group of uplink information, at least one first transmission parameter set used by the at least one group of uplink information (paragraphs 169-180: step 1420 in figure 14, determining spatial filter for one TCI sets.); and
sending, based on the at least one first transmission parameter set, the at least one group of uplink information to a network device (paragraphs 169-180: step 1430 in figure 14, transmitting uplink channels using one or more spatial filters. Also see paragraphs 61-62 and figure 2 for TCI information. ).
Examiner note: Figure 14 is similar to figure WW1 in the provisional application filed on 3/04/2022. Figure 19 is similar to figure QQ2 in the provisional application filed on 3/04/2022.
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With regard to claim 2, Nilsson teaches: wherein each group of uplink information in the at least one group of uplink information comprises one or more pieces of uplink information, and the each group of uplink information in the at least one group of uplink information is associated with a same piece of spatial information in the at least one piece of spatial information (paragraphs 61-62, 119-120, 137, 142 and 174-175:
7] Some embodiments herein accordingly include solutions on how to determine spatial filters for PUSCH transmissions for mTRP operation for the unified TCI state framework using explicitly configured common beam indexes. In doing so, some embodiments advantageously provide a simple way to associate a PUSCH transmission to one or more common beams for multi-TRP based transmission under a unified TCI state framework.
[0142] In one embodiment, in case the Common_beam_index is configured with commonBeam1 and the UE is indicated with two Joint DL/UL TCI states, the UE should determine the spatial filter for the PUSCH transmission based on a first indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state. In a similar way, in case the Common_beam_index is configured with commonBeam2 and the UE is indicated with two Joint DL/UL TCI states, the UE should determine the spatial filter for the PUSCH transmission based on a second indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state. And in case the Common_beam_index is configured with commonBeam1ANDcommonBeam2 and the UE is indicated with two Joint DL/UL TCI states, the UE should determine the spatial filter for a first PUSCH transmission based on a first indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state and a second PUSCH transmission based on a second Joint DL/UL TCI state.
) .
With regard to claims 3 and 13, Nilsson teaches:
wherein the same piece of spatial information comprises at least one of: transmission configuration indication (TCI) state information, antenna panel information, transmission reception point (TRP) information, control resource set (CORESET) group information, reference signal set information, beam information, or capability set information (paragraphs 61-62, 110 and paragraphs 174-176:
configuration for at least one uplink channel or signal includes a field that indicates whether a unified TCI framework or a spatial relation framework applies.
[0175] In some embodiments, said receiving comprises receiving, for each of one or more uplink signals, a configuration that indicates with which of multiple activated unified TCI states the uplink signal is associated. In one or more of these embodiments, the one or more uplink signals are one or more sounding reference signal, SRS, signals. In one or more of these embodiments, the one or more SRS signals are one or more SRS signals in one or more SRS resource sets. In one or more of these embodiments, the configuration for an SRS signal in an SRS resource set indicates with which of the multiple activated unified TCI states the SRS signal in that SRS resource set is associated by indicating with which of the multiple activated unified TCI states the SRS resource set is associated. In one or more of these embodiments, the configuration received for each of the one or more SRS signals in the one or more SRS resource sets is an SRS resource set configuration. In one or more of these embodiments, the one or more SRS signals are one or more SRS signals in one or more SRS resources of the same SRS resource set. In one or more of these embodiments, the configuration for an SRS signal in an SRS resource of the SRS resource set indicates with which of the multiple activated unified TCI states the SRS signal in that SRS resource is associated by indicating with which of the multiple activated unified TCI states the SRS resource is associated. In one or more of these embodiments, the configuration received for each of the one or more SRS signals in the one or more SRS resources of the SRS resource set is an SRS resource configuration.
[0176] In some embodiments, each activated unified TCI state contains quasi co-location, QCL, information between antenna ports of the communication device.
) .
With regard to claims 4 and 14, Nilsson teaches:
wherein the determining, based on the at least one piece of spatial information associated with the at least one group of uplink information, the at least one first transmission parameter set used by the at least one group of uplink information comprises: determining at least one second transmission parameter set associated with the at least one piece of spatial information as the at least one first transmission parameter set; wherein the second transmission parameter set comprises at least one of: an uplink transmission spatial filter of uplink information, power control parameter information of uplink information, beam information of uplink information, precoding information of uplink information, information of a number of transmission layers of uplink information, sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set information associated with uplink information, sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) information associated with uplink information, demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port information of uplink information, or transmission port information used by an SRS resource indicated by the SRI (paragraphs 61-62, 110 and paragraphs 174-176:
[0061] In this context, the communication device 12 is configured to employ a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) state framework. A TCI state contains quasi co-location (QCL) information between antenna ports of the communication device 12. Two antenna ports are QCL if properties of the channel over which a transmission on one antenna port is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which a transmission on the other antenna port is conveyed. That is, the communication device 12 can assume that properties of the channel over which a transmission on one antenna port is conveyed are the same as the properties of the channel over which a transmission on the other antenna port is conveyed. A TCI state therefore indicates a QCL relation or assumption between antenna ports, e.g., a source port and a target port. In a spatial relation TCI state framework, a TCI state applies to an individual channel or signal. In a unified TCI state framework, by contrast, a TCI state applies to multiple channels or signals. FIG. 2 shows one example of a unified TCI state 30, which as shown may consist of a TCI state identity (ID) 30A and one or more QCL information objects 30B, e.g., each of which may comprise a serving cell ID 31, a bandwidth part (BWP) ID 32, a reference signal (RS) index 33, and one or more QCL types 34.
[0062] Returning back to FIG. 1, multiple unified TCI states 16 are activated for the communication device 12. In one embodiment, for example, one unified TCI state is activated per TRP, e.g., for use in transmitting multiple uplink channels or signals towards that TRP. Activation of the multiple unified TCI states 16 as used herein means that the unified TCI states 16 are to be used by the communication device 12, e.g., for determining spatial filters for uplink transmissions.
)
Examiner note: Figure 2 is similar to figure XX2 in the provisional application filed on 3/04/2022.
With regard to claims 5 and 13, Nilsson teaches: wherein the determining, based on the at least one piece of spatial information associated with the at least one group of uplink information, the at least one first transmission parameter set used by the at least one group of uplink information comprises: determining at least one second transmission parameter set associated with the at least one piece of spatial information; and determining at least one third transmission parameter set associated with the at least one second transmission parameter set as the at least one first transmission parameter set (paragraphs 61-62, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-176:
[0154] In one embodiment, in case PUSCH is scheduled for spatial multiplexing (i.e., where different sets of PUSCH layers are transmitted in two different PUSCH transmissions transmitted in overlapping time/frequency resources), the first PUSCH transmission associated with a first set of layers is associated with a first common beam index (i.e., a first indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state), and the second PUSCH transmission associated with a second set of PUSCH layers is associated with a second common beam index (i.e., a second indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state). In one embodiment, the first set of layers is indicated with a first transmission precoder matrix indicator (TPMI)/SRI field in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission and the second set of layers is indicated with a second TPMI/SRI field in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission. In one embodiment, the first set of layers is associated with a first CDM group indicated with the Antenna port bitfield (as specified in 3GPP TS 38.212 v17.0.0) included in the in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission and the second set of layers is associated with a second CDM group indicated with the Antenna port bitfield included in the in the DCI scheduling the PUSCH transmission. So for example, in case the Antenna port bitfield in DCI scheduling the PUSCH indicates antenna (DMRS) port 0 belonging to CDM group 0 and antenna (DMRS) port 2 belonging to CDM group 1, then the UE should associate the PUSCH layer transmitted on antenna port 0 with a first common beam index (i.e. a first indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state), and associate the PUSCH layer transmitted on antenna port 2 with a second common beam index (i.e. a second indicated Joint DL/UL TCI state).
[0155] In one embodiment, a flag parameter may be configured as part of PUSCH-Config along with multi-TRP PUSCH configuration parameters. This flag parameter enables the use of the unified Joint DL/UL TCI state to be used for multi-TRP PUSCH schemes. If the flag parameter is not configured, then the UE may assume the rel-15/16 based spatial relation framework for mTRP PUSCH transmission. For instance, if the flag parameter is configured, then the UE is instructed to assume unified Joint DL/UL TCI state for deriving spatial filters for multi-TRP PUSCH schemes. If the flag is not configured, the UE is instructed to use spatial relations as indicated by the SRI fields in DCI that schedules the PUSCH transmission to derive the spatial filter for multi-TRP PUSCH schemes.
).
With regard to claim 6, Nilsson teaches: wherein the second transmission parameter set comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set information; the third transmission parameter set comprises at least one of: precoding information used by uplink information, information of a number of transmission layers used by uplink information, sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) information associated with uplink information, demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port information used by uplink information, or transmission port information used by uplink information.
With regard to claims 7 and 16, Nilsson teaches: wherein the method further comprises: determining a determining manner of the at least one first transmission parameter set; wherein the determining manner of the at least one first transmission parameter comprises a first determining manner and a second determining manner, the first determining manner refers to determining the at least one first transmission parameter set based on at least one second transmission parameter set associated with the at least one piece of spatial information, and the second determining manner refers to determining the at least one first transmission parameter set based on a reference signal associated with a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource or an SRS resource set associated with the at least one group of uplink information (paragraphs 61-62, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-180)
With regard to claims 8 and 17, Nilsson teaches: wherein the determining the determining manner of the at least one first transmission parameter set comprises: determining the first determining manner or the second determining manner as the determining manner of the at least one first transmission parameter set; or receiving second information sent from the network device, wherein the second information is used to indicate the determining manner of the at least one first transmission parameter set (paragraphs 61-62, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-176)
With regard to claim 9, Nilsson teaches: wherein the at least one group of uplink information is scheduled by a same piece of downlink control information (DCI) (paragraphs 61-63, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-176:
[0063] As shown in FIG. 1, the multiple activated unified TCI states 16 may be activated via activation signaling 18 from the network node 14. The activation signaling 18 may for instance be Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling or physical layer signaling, e.g., a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. In these and other embodiments, the communication network 10 may configure the wireless communication device 12 with multiple unified TCI states, e.g., via
)
With regard to claims 10 and 19, Nilsson teaches: wherein each spatial information of the at least one piece of spatial information comprises at least one of: transmission configuration indication (TCI) state information, antenna panel information, transmission reception point (TRP) information, control resource set (CORESET) group information, reference signal set information, beam information, or capability set information (paragraphs 61-63, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-176)
With regard to claim 11, Nilsson teaches: wherein each group of uplink information in the at least one group of uplink information comprises at least one of: at least one physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a PUCCH corresponding to at least one transmission layer, a PUSCH corresponding to at least one transmission layer, a PUSCH corresponding to at least one redundant version (RV), at least one transmission block, at least one piece of uplink information transmitted in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) transmission mode, at least one piece of uplink information transmitted in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) transmission mode, a PUSCH associated with at least one antenna panel, or a PUCCH associated with at least one antenna panel (paragraphs 61-62, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-180:
[0151] When the UE is configured with commonBeam1ANDcommonBeam2, it must be decided which PUSCH transmissions and/or which parts of a PUSCH transmission should be associated with which common beam index, for different PUSCH transmission schemes (e.g., TDM repetition, FDM repetition, SFN, spatial multiplexing,
).
With regard to claim 15, Nilsson teaches: wherein the determining, based on the at least one piece of spatial information associated with the at least one group of uplink information, the at least one first transmission parameter set used by the at least one group of uplink information comprises, comprises: determining at least one second transmission parameter set associated with the at least one piece of spatial information; and determining at least one third transmission parameter set associated with the at least one second transmission parameter set as the at least one first transmission parameter set; wherein the second transmission parameter set comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set information; wherein the third transmission parameter set comprises at least one of: precoding information used by uplink information, information of a number of transmission layers used by uplink information, sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) information associated with uplink information, demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port information used by uplink information, or transmission port information used by uplink information (paragraphs 61-63, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-180)
With regard to claim 18, Nilsson teaches: wherein the at least one group of uplink information is scheduled by a same piece of downlink control information (DCI); wherein each group of uplink information in the at least one group of uplink information comprises at least one of: at least one physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a PUCCH corresponding to at least one transmission layer, a PUSCH corresponding to at least one transmission layer, a PUSCH corresponding to at least one redundant version (RV), at least one transmission block, at least one piece of uplink information transmitted in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) transmission mode, at least one piece of uplink information transmitted in a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) transmission mode, a PUSCH associated with the at least one antenna panel, or a PUCCH associated with the at least one antenna panel (paragraphs 61-62, 151-155 and paragraphs 174-180)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Go et al. (US 2026/0059524), which teaches mobile device sending PUSCHs to two different TRPs based DCI signaling (see figure 9).
Park et al. (US 2025/0358047), which teaches mobile device sending PUSCHs on multiple beams/panels based on capability and configuration information (see figure 14).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS R SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-1096. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM -5:00 PM.
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/MARCUS SMITH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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