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 .
This office action is in response to Applicant’s preliminary amendment filed on 08/02/2024.
Claims 1-11 and 13 are currently pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Rahman et al. (US 2023/0337250 A1; hereafter RAHMAN).
With respect to claim 1, RAHMAN discloses a method (Abstract; Title) performed by a user equipment (UE) (114, 115, 116 UEs in FIG. 1) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving configuration information on one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22);
receiving information related to activation or deactivation of at least one TCI state among the one or more TCI states (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22); and
receiving a specific value through downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22),
wherein, based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being activated, the PDSCH is received based on the TCI state (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22), and
wherein, based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being deactivated, the DCI is ignored (paragraph [0146], see the UE using the default beam when no configuration is ready) by the UE (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22).
With respect to claim 2, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being deactivated, transmitting negative acknowledgment (NACK) information for the PDSCH (paragraph [0085])
With respect to claim 3, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 1,
wherein the PDSCH corresponds to a group common-based PDSCH for one or more UEs (paragraph [0085]).
With respect to claim 4, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 1,
wherein the DCI corresponds to a DCI format scrambled by a group-radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) (paragraphs [0176] and [0177]).
With respect to claim 5, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the specific value indicates one of codepoints of the TCI field in the DCI (paragraphs [0176] and [0177]).
With respect to claim 6, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the codepoints of the TCI field are set to be UE-specific (paragraphs [0176] and [0177]).
With respect to claim 7, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 5,
wherein the codepoints of the TCI field are determined based on whether a specific bit (paragraph [0154]) in the DCI is toggled (paragraphs [0176] and [0177]).
With respect to claim 8, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 1,
wherein information related to activation or deactivation of the at least one TCI state is received through a UE-specific medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) (paragraph [0110]).
With respect to claim 9, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 8,
wherein the mapping between the specific value and a TCI state is applied after a pre- defined time interval based on the transmission timing of hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information (paragraph [0085]) for the UE-specific MAC-CE (paragraph [0110]).
With respect to claim 10, RAHMAN further discloses the method of claim 1,
wherein the configuration information is received through a UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) message (paragraph [0106]).
With respect to claim 11, RAHMAN discloses a user equipment (UE) (114, 115, 116 UEs in FIG. 1) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:
at least one transceiver (325, 315 in FIG. 3) for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal (305 in FIG. 3); and
at least one processor (340 in FIG. 3) for controlling the at least one transceiver (325, 315 in FIG. 3),
wherein the at least one processor configured to:
receive configuration information on one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22);
receive information related to activation or deactivation of at least one TCI state among the one or more TCI states (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22); and
receive a specific value through downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22),
wherein, based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being activated, the PDSCH is received based on the TCI state (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22), and
wherein, based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being deactivated, the DCI is ignored (paragraph [0146], see the UE using the default beam when no configuration is ready) by the UE (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22).
With respect to claim 13, RAHMAN discloses a base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:
at least one transceiver (210b in FIG. 2) for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal (205b in FIG. 2); and
at least one processor (225 in FIG. 2) for controlling the at least one transceiver,
wherein the at least one processor (225 in FIG. 2) configured to:
transmit configuration information on one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22);
transmit information related to activation or deactivation of at least one TCI state among the one or more TCI states (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22); and
transmit a specific value through downlink control information (DCI) for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22),
wherein, based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being activated, the PDSCH is received based on the TCI state (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22), and
wherein, based on the TCI state mapped to the specific value being deactivated, the DCI is (paragraph [0146], see the UE using the default beam when no configuration is ready) ignored (2100 in FIG. 21; 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208, 2210 in FIG. 22).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T O'Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-1081. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri Flex 10am-6:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 June 23, 2026
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