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 .
Introduction
The claims 1-3 and 21-37 are pending in this application. This is a non-final office action in response to Application Number 18/836,416 filed on 7 August 2024 with a preliminary amendment also filed on 7 August 2024 in which claims 1-3 are amended, claims 4-20 are canceled, and claims 21-37 are added.
The instant application is a 371 of PCT/CN2022/076003 filed on 11 February 2022.
The applicant of record is Apple Inc. and the inventors of record are Manasa Raghavan, Jie Cui, Yang Tang, Huaning Niu, Yushu Zhang, Xiang Chen, Qiming Li, and Dawei Zhang.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 7 August 2024 and 30 October 2025 were filed on or after the filing date of the instant application on 7 August 2024 and before the mailing date of the first office action on the merits. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 29 and 33 are objected to because of the following informalities: Independent claims 29 and 33 each recite “the transceiver” in the last limitation, however transceiver is not described elsewhere in claim 29 and claim 33. Examiner notes that dependent claims 31-32 and 36-37 also recite “the transceiver”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The claims have been considered according to the latest Patent Eligibility Guidelines and are considered eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3 and 21-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2023/0379835) in view of Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2024/0314804).
Regarding claim 1, Matsumura disclosed a user equipment (UE) (see Matsumura Fig. 23: UE components) configured to communicate with a base station (see Matsumura Fig. 22: base station components) using a set of component carriers (CCs) including a set of downlink (DL) CCs and a set of uplink (UL) CCs (see Matsumura [0249]: “The user terminal 20 may be connected to at least one of the plurality of base stations 10. The user terminal 20 may use at least one of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) using a plurality of component carriers (CCs).” | [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”), the UE comprising:
a processor (see Matsumura fig. 24 #1001 processor) configured to,
receive from the base station, via a transceiver (see Matsumura Fig. 23 #220 UE transmitting/receiving section), a command to switch from applying a first common transmission configuration indication (TCI) identifier (ID) to the set of CCs to applying a second common TCI ID to the set of CCs, the second common TCI ID provided for a joint TCI mode (see Matsumura [0070]: “A common beam/unified TCI state from the same TCI state pool for both of the UL and DL (joint common TCI state pool) may be indicated by DCI-based beam management (DCI-level beam indication). M (>1) TCI states may be activated by the MAC CE. UL/DL DCI may select one TCI state from M active TCI states. The selected TCI state may be applied to channels/RSs for both of the UL and DL” | [0139]: “The CC list may be a list of CCs. Common TCI indication may be applied to all CCs/BWPs included in the CC list. The CC list may be configured by RRC, and which one or more CCs out of a plurality of CCs included in the CC list the common TCI indication is applied to may be indicated/selected by a MAC CE. In other words, the CC list may be notified by the RRC and the MAC CE.”; [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”; examiner notes that updating the common TCI is functionally equivalent to switching to apply another common TCI to the CCs | [0145]: “When a common TCI is indicated by DCI in one BWP/CC included in a CC list, common TCIs for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list may be updated to the indicated common TCI.” | [0149]: “A TCI field in DL DCI may indicate the common TCI. A new field (for example, a unified TCI field) in DL/UL DCI may indicate the common TCI.”; [0152]: “In an example of FIG. 11, a plurality of common TCIs are configured by the RRC for each of CC #1 to CC #3, and a CC list indicating CC #1 to CC #3 is configured. When receiving a MAC CE to activate some (set of active common TCIs) of the plurality of common TCIs for CC #1, the UE applies the set of active common TCIs to CC #1 to CC #3 in the CC list. When receiving, in CC #1, DCI to indicate a common TCI in the set of active common TCIs, the UE applies the indicated common TCI to CC #1 to CC #3 in the CC list…”);
simultaneously begin to switch the DL CCs and the UL CCs to the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura [0109]: “Simultaneous beam update across a plurality of CCs specified in specifications for Rel. 16 can update a beam for a plurality of BWPs/CCs by using one MAC CE beam indication, and thus overhead of beam control can be reduced.”; [0110]: “It is preferable that the simultaneous beam update across the plurality of CCs is also possible in the common TCI framework…”; [0130]: “In the present disclosure, a CC list, a serving cell list, a CC list in cell group configuration (CellGroupConfig), an applicable list, a simultaneous TCI update list/second simultaneous TCI update list, simultaneousTCI-UpdateList1-r16/simultaneousTCI-UpdateList2-r16, a simultaneous TCI cell list, simultaneousTCI-CellList, a simultaneous spatial updated list/second simultaneous spatial updated list, simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList1-r16/simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList2-r16, a configured CC, a configured list, a BWP/CC in a configured list, all BWPs/CCs in a configured list, a CC indicated by an activation command, an indicated CC, a CC on which a MAC CE has been received, and information indicating a plurality of cells for update of at least one of a TCI state and a spatial relation may be interchangeably interpreted.” | [0070]: “A common beam/unified TCI state from the same TCI state pool for both of the UL and DL (joint common TCI state pool) may be indicated by DCI-based beam management (DCI-level beam indication). M (>1) TCI states may be activated by the MAC CE. UL/DL DCI may select one TCI state from M active TCI states. The selected TCI state may be applied to channels/RSs for both of the UL and DL” | [0139]: “The CC list may be a list of CCs. Common TCI indication may be applied to all CCs/BWPs included in the CC list. The CC list may be configured by RRC, and which one or more CCs out of a plurality of CCs included in the CC list the common TCI indication is applied to may be indicated/selected by a MAC CE. In other words, the CC list may be notified by the RRC and the MAC CE.”; [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”; examiner notes that updating the common TCI is functionally equivalent to switching to apply another common TCI to the CCs | [0145]: “When a common TCI is indicated by DCI in one BWP/CC included in a CC list, common TCIs for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list may be updated to the indicated common TCI.” | [0149]: “A TCI field in DL DCI may indicate the common TCI. A new field (for example, a unified TCI field) in DL/UL DCI may indicate the common TCI.” | [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0210]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI and timing of application of the UL common TCI are time t_1. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are equal to each other.”);
transmit to the base station, via the transceiver, an acknowledgement of the command to apply the second common TCI ID to the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.” | [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”);
receive from the base station, via the transceiver, a reference signal (RS) shared by CCs in the set of CCs according to the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura-Liu combination below); and
transmit data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura-Liu combination below).
Matsumura did not explicitly disclose “receive from the base station, via the transceiver, a reference signal (RS) shared by CCs in the set of CCs according to the second common TCI ID; and transmit data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID.”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that reference signals received after switching to a different common TCI would be received using the new common TCI and that the UE would use the new common TCI when receiving/transmitting data from/to the base station.
However in a related art, Liu disclosed a UE receiving a DCI indicating a new common TCI state (see Liu [0051]), determining whether to use the new or old TCI state (see Liu [0052]), receiving the PDSCH transmission using the new TCI state instead of the old TCI state if the scheduled PDSCH is greater than the thresholdtimeDurationForQCL (see Liu [0056]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 21, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to transmit the data to or receive the data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID, after an action delay including a first time period in which the acknowledgement is transmitted (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.” | [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”).
Regarding claim 2, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 21, wherein:
the action delay includes a downlink action delay and an uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”); and
the processor is configured to,
receiving a downlink communication from the base station, via the transceiver, after the downlink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.”); and
transmit an uplink communication to the base station, via the transceiver, after the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.” | [0191]: “When the common TCI has been updated by RRC/MAC CE/DCI, the UE may apply a TPC-related parameter corresponding to the updated common TCI to UL transmission using the common TCI.”).
Regarding claim 3, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 21, wherein:
the action delay includes a downlink action delay and an uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”); and
both of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay include the first time period (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0210]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI and timing of application of the UL common TCI are time t_1. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are equal to each other.”); and
the processor is configured to,
determine a maximum of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.”; examiner notes that although determining and using the maximum of the DL or UL delay are not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that which delay is used before transmitting or receiving data is a matter of implementation choice); and
transmit data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, after the maximum of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.” ; examiner notes that although determining and using the maximum of the DL or UL delay are not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that which delay is used before transmitting or receiving data is a matter of implementation choice).
Regarding claim 22, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 21, wherein the first time period is based on a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.”; examiner notes that although using the smallest SCS of the set of CCs is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the specific time period used is a matter of implementation choice. Additionally, Liu disclosed “…The indicated common beam #2 (i.e. new beam) will be applied to (i.e. used for receiving) PDCCH transmission, SPS-PDSCH transmission, PDSCH transmission scheduled by DCI without TCI field, starting from slot n+7, i.e., the first slot that is Y symbols after the acknowledgment (the end of slot n+4, or the start of slot n+5) of the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) indicating a common TCI state change. The actual duration of Y symbols is determined by 1) the SCS configuration of the activated DL BWP for the PDCCH reception carrying the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change: or 2) the SCS configuration of the activated UL BWP for the PUCCH or PUSCH transmission carrying the ACK corresponding to the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change…” (see Liu [0062]); examiner notes that although using the “smallest” SCS is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura-Liu, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that which SCS is being used is a matter of implementation choice.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 23, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the command to apply the second common TCI ID to the set of CCs is received in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (see Matsumura [0191]: “When the common TCI has been updated by RRC/MAC CE/DCI, the UE may apply a TPC-related parameter corresponding to the updated common TCI to UL transmission using the common TCI.”).
Regarding claim 24, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the command to apply the second common TCI ID to the set of CCs is received in a downlink control information (DCI) (see Matsumura [0191]: “When the common TCI has been updated by RRC/MAC CE/DCI, the UE may apply a TPC-related parameter corresponding to the updated common TCI to UL transmission using the common TCI.”).
Regarding claim 25, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the first common TCI ID is provided for a joint TCI mode (see Matsumura [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”).
Regarding claim 26, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the first common TCI ID is provided for a DL TCI mode (see Matsumura [0141]: “When a separate common TCI pool for the UL/DL is configured, a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, and the updated common TCI is a DL common TCI, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to a DL channel/RS of a specific type for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list. The DL channel/RS of the specific type may be all DL channels/RSs, or may be multiple types of DL channels/RSs.”).
Regarding claim 27, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the first common TCI ID is provided for an UL TCI mode (see Matsumura [0142]: “When a separate common TCI pool for the UL/DL is configured, a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, and the updated common TCI is a UL common TCI, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to a UL channel/RS of a specific type for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list. The UL channel/RS of the specific type may be all UL channels/RSs, or may be multiple types of UL channels/RSs.”).
Regarding claim 28, Matsumura-Liu disclosed the UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to transmit the data to or receive the data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID, after an action delay based on a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.”; examiner notes that although using the smallest SCS of the set of CCs is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the specific time period used is a matter of implementation choice. Additionally, Liu disclosed a UE receiving a DCI indicating a new common TCI state (see Liu [0051]), determining whether to use the new or old TCI state (see Liu [0052]), receiving the PDSCH transmission using the new TCI state instead of the old TCI state if the scheduled PDSCH is greater than the thresholdtimeDurationForQCL (see Liu [0056]), and also “…The indicated common beam #2 (i.e. new beam) will be applied to (i.e. used for receiving) PDCCH transmission, SPS-PDSCH transmission, PDSCH transmission scheduled by DCI without TCI field, starting from slot n+7, i.e., the first slot that is Y symbols after the acknowledgment (the end of slot n+4, or the start of slot n+5) of the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) indicating a common TCI state change. The actual duration of Y symbols is determined by 1) the SCS configuration of the activated DL BWP for the PDCCH reception carrying the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change: or 2) the SCS configuration of the activated UL BWP for the PUCCH or PUSCH transmission carrying the ACK corresponding to the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change…” (see Liu [0062]); examiner notes that although using the “smallest” SCS is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura-Liu, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that which SCS is being used is a matter of implementation choice.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 29, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 1 above. Examiner notes that claim 29 describes a method of a UE whereas claim 1 describes a UE performing a method. Matsumura disclosed, as recited in claim 29: A method of a user equipment (UE) (see Matsumura Fig. 23: UE components), the method for communicating with a base station (see Matsumura Fig. 22: base station components) using a set of component carriers (CCs) including a set of downlink (DL) CCs and a set of uplink (UL) CCs (see Matsumura [0249]: “The user terminal 20 may be connected to at least one of the plurality of base stations 10. The user terminal 20 may use at least one of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) using a plurality of component carriers (CCs).” | [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”), the method comprising:
receiving a command to switch from applying a first common transmission configuration indication (TCI) identifier (ID) to the set of CCs to applying a second common TCI ID to the set of CCs, the second common TCI ID provided for a joint TCI mode (see Matsumura [0070]: “A common beam/unified TCI state from the same TCI state pool for both of the UL and DL (joint common TCI state pool) may be indicated by DCI-based beam management (DCI-level beam indication). M (>1) TCI states may be activated by the MAC CE. UL/DL DCI may select one TCI state from M active TCI states. The selected TCI state may be applied to channels/RSs for both of the UL and DL” | [0139]: “The CC list may be a list of CCs. Common TCI indication may be applied to all CCs/BWPs included in the CC list. The CC list may be configured by RRC, and which one or more CCs out of a plurality of CCs included in the CC list the common TCI indication is applied to may be indicated/selected by a MAC CE. In other words, the CC list may be notified by the RRC and the MAC CE.”; [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”; examiner notes that updating the common TCI is functionally equivalent to switching to apply another common TCI to the CCs | [0145]: “When a common TCI is indicated by DCI in one BWP/CC included in a CC list, common TCIs for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list may be updated to the indicated common TCI.” | [0149]: “A TCI field in DL DCI may indicate the common TCI. A new field (for example, a unified TCI field) in DL/UL DCI may indicate the common TCI.”; [0152]: “In an example of FIG. 11, a plurality of common TCIs are configured by the RRC for each of CC #1 to CC #3, and a CC list indicating CC #1 to CC #3 is configured. When receiving a MAC CE to activate some (set of active common TCIs) of the plurality of common TCIs for CC #1, the UE applies the set of active common TCIs to CC #1 to CC #3 in the CC list. When receiving, in CC #1, DCI to indicate a common TCI in the set of active common TCIs, the UE applies the indicated common TCI to CC #1 to CC #3 in the CC list…”);
simultaneously beginning to switch the DL CCs and the UL CCs to the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura [0109]: “Simultaneous beam update across a plurality of CCs specified in specifications for Rel. 16 can update a beam for a plurality of BWPs/CCs by using one MAC CE beam indication, and thus overhead of beam control can be reduced.”; [0110]: “It is preferable that the simultaneous beam update across the plurality of CCs is also possible in the common TCI framework…”; [0130]: “In the present disclosure, a CC list, a serving cell list, a CC list in cell group configuration (CellGroupConfig), an applicable list, a simultaneous TCI update list/second simultaneous TCI update list, simultaneousTCI-UpdateList1-r16/simultaneousTCI-UpdateList2-r16, a simultaneous TCI cell list, simultaneousTCI-CellList, a simultaneous spatial updated list/second simultaneous spatial updated list, simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList1-r16/simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList2-r16, a configured CC, a configured list, a BWP/CC in a configured list, all BWPs/CCs in a configured list, a CC indicated by an activation command, an indicated CC, a CC on which a MAC CE has been received, and information indicating a plurality of cells for update of at least one of a TCI state and a spatial relation may be interchangeably interpreted.” | [0070]: “A common beam/unified TCI state from the same TCI state pool for both of the UL and DL (joint common TCI state pool) may be indicated by DCI-based beam management (DCI-level beam indication). M (>1) TCI states may be activated by the MAC CE. UL/DL DCI may select one TCI state from M active TCI states. The selected TCI state may be applied to channels/RSs for both of the UL and DL” | [0139]: “The CC list may be a list of CCs. Common TCI indication may be applied to all CCs/BWPs included in the CC list. The CC list may be configured by RRC, and which one or more CCs out of a plurality of CCs included in the CC list the common TCI indication is applied to may be indicated/selected by a MAC CE. In other words, the CC list may be notified by the RRC and the MAC CE.”; [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”; examiner notes that updating the common TCI is functionally equivalent to switching to apply another common TCI to the CCs | [0145]: “When a common TCI is indicated by DCI in one BWP/CC included in a CC list, common TCIs for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list may be updated to the indicated common TCI.” | [0149]: “A TCI field in DL DCI may indicate the common TCI. A new field (for example, a unified TCI field) in DL/UL DCI may indicate the common TCI.” | [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0210]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI and timing of application of the UL common TCI are time t_1. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are equal to each other.”);
transmitting an acknowledgement of the command to apply the second common TCI ID to the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.” | [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”);
receiving a reference signal (RS) shared by CCs in the set of CCs according to the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura-Liu combination below); and
transmitting data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura-Liu combination below).
Matsumura did not explicitly disclose “receiving a reference signal (RS) shared by CCs in the set of CCs according to the second common TCI ID; and transmitting data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID.”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that reference signals received after switching to a different common TCI would be received using the new common TCI and that the UE would use the new common TCI when receiving/transmitting data from/to the base station.
However in a related art, Liu disclosed a UE receiving a DCI indicating a new common TCI state (see Liu [0051]), determining whether to use the new or old TCI state (see Liu [0052]), receiving the PDSCH transmission using the new TCI state instead of the old TCI state if the scheduled PDSCH is greater than the thresholdtimeDurationForQCL (see Liu [0056]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 30, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claims 21-22. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 30: The method of claim 29, further comprising:
transmitting the data to or receiving the data from the base station, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID, after an action delay including a first time period in which the acknowledgement is transmitted (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.” | [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”), the first time period based on a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.”; examiner notes that although using the smallest SCS of the set of CCs is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the specific time period used is a matter of implementation choice. Additionally, Liu disclosed “…The indicated common beam #2 (i.e. new beam) will be applied to (i.e. used for receiving) PDCCH transmission, SPS-PDSCH transmission, PDSCH transmission scheduled by DCI without TCI field, starting from slot n+7, i.e., the first slot that is Y symbols after the acknowledgment (the end of slot n+4, or the start of slot n+5) of the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) indicating a common TCI state change. The actual duration of Y symbols is determined by 1) the SCS configuration of the activated DL BWP for the PDCCH reception carrying the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change: or 2) the SCS configuration of the activated UL BWP for the PUCCH or PUSCH transmission carrying the ACK corresponding to the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change…” (see Liu [0062]); examiner notes that although using the “smallest” SCS is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura-Liu, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that which SCS is being used is a matter of implementation choice.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 31, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 2. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 31: The method of claim 30, wherein the action delay includes a downlink action delay and an uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”), and the method further comprises:
receiving a downlink communication from the base station, via the transceiver, after the downlink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.”); and
transmitting an uplink communication to the base station, via the transceiver, after the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.” | [0191]: “When the common TCI has been updated by RRC/MAC CE/DCI, the UE may apply a TPC-related parameter corresponding to the updated common TCI to UL transmission using the common TCI.”).
Regarding claim 32, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 3. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 32: The method of claim 30, wherein the action delay includes a downlink action delay and an uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”), both of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay include the first time period (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0210]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI and timing of application of the UL common TCI are time t_1. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are equal to each other.”), and the method further comprises:
determining a maximum of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.”; examiner notes that although determining and using the maximum of the DL or UL delay are not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that which delay is used before transmitting or receiving data is a matter of implementation choice); and
transmitting data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, after the maximum of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.” ; examiner notes that although determining and using the maximum of the DL or UL delay are not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that which delay is used before transmitting or receiving data is a matter of implementation choice).
Regarding claim 33, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 1 above. Examiner notes that claim 33 describes a baseband processor configured to communicate with a base station whereas claim 1 describes a UE. Matsumura disclosed, as recited in claim 33: A baseband processor comprising a memory (see Matsumura Fig. 23: UE components; Fig. 24: #1002 memory, #1001 processor) and configured to communicate with a base station (see Matsumura Fig. 22: base station components) using a set of component carriers (CCs) including a set of downlink (DL) CCs and a set of uplink (UL) CCs (see Matsumura [0249]: “The user terminal 20 may be connected to at least one of the plurality of base stations 10. The user terminal 20 may use at least one of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) using a plurality of component carriers (CCs).” | [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”), the basedband processor (see Matsumura fig. 24 #1001 processor) configured to:
receive a command to switch from applying a first common transmission configuration indication (TCI) identifier (ID) to the set of CCs to applying a second common TCI ID to the set of CCs, the second common TCI ID provided for a joint TCI mode (see Matsumura [0070]: “A common beam/unified TCI state from the same TCI state pool for both of the UL and DL (joint common TCI state pool) may be indicated by DCI-based beam management (DCI-level beam indication). M (>1) TCI states may be activated by the MAC CE. UL/DL DCI may select one TCI state from M active TCI states. The selected TCI state may be applied to channels/RSs for both of the UL and DL” | [0139]: “The CC list may be a list of CCs. Common TCI indication may be applied to all CCs/BWPs included in the CC list. The CC list may be configured by RRC, and which one or more CCs out of a plurality of CCs included in the CC list the common TCI indication is applied to may be indicated/selected by a MAC CE. In other words, the CC list may be notified by the RRC and the MAC CE.”; [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”; examiner notes that updating the common TCI is functionally equivalent to switching to apply another common TCI to the CCs | [0145]: “When a common TCI is indicated by DCI in one BWP/CC included in a CC list, common TCIs for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list may be updated to the indicated common TCI.” | [0149]: “A TCI field in DL DCI may indicate the common TCI. A new field (for example, a unified TCI field) in DL/UL DCI may indicate the common TCI.”; [0152]: “In an example of FIG. 11, a plurality of common TCIs are configured by the RRC for each of CC #1 to CC #3, and a CC list indicating CC #1 to CC #3 is configured. When receiving a MAC CE to activate some (set of active common TCIs) of the plurality of common TCIs for CC #1, the UE applies the set of active common TCIs to CC #1 to CC #3 in the CC list. When receiving, in CC #1, DCI to indicate a common TCI in the set of active common TCIs, the UE applies the indicated common TCI to CC #1 to CC #3 in the CC list…”);
simultaneously begin to switch the DL CCs and the UL CCs to the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura [0109]: “Simultaneous beam update across a plurality of CCs specified in specifications for Rel. 16 can update a beam for a plurality of BWPs/CCs by using one MAC CE beam indication, and thus overhead of beam control can be reduced.”; [0110]: “It is preferable that the simultaneous beam update across the plurality of CCs is also possible in the common TCI framework…”; [0130]: “In the present disclosure, a CC list, a serving cell list, a CC list in cell group configuration (CellGroupConfig), an applicable list, a simultaneous TCI update list/second simultaneous TCI update list, simultaneousTCI-UpdateList1-r16/simultaneousTCI-UpdateList2-r16, a simultaneous TCI cell list, simultaneousTCI-CellList, a simultaneous spatial updated list/second simultaneous spatial updated list, simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList1-r16/simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList2-r16, a configured CC, a configured list, a BWP/CC in a configured list, all BWPs/CCs in a configured list, a CC indicated by an activation command, an indicated CC, a CC on which a MAC CE has been received, and information indicating a plurality of cells for update of at least one of a TCI state and a spatial relation may be interchangeably interpreted.” | [0070]: “A common beam/unified TCI state from the same TCI state pool for both of the UL and DL (joint common TCI state pool) may be indicated by DCI-based beam management (DCI-level beam indication). M (>1) TCI states may be activated by the MAC CE. UL/DL DCI may select one TCI state from M active TCI states. The selected TCI state may be applied to channels/RSs for both of the UL and DL” | [0139]: “The CC list may be a list of CCs. Common TCI indication may be applied to all CCs/BWPs included in the CC list. The CC list may be configured by RRC, and which one or more CCs out of a plurality of CCs included in the CC list the common TCI indication is applied to may be indicated/selected by a MAC CE. In other words, the CC list may be notified by the RRC and the MAC CE.”; [0140]: “When a joint common TCI pool for UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI is updated in at least one BWP/CC out of BWPs/CCs included in the CC list, the UE may apply the updated common TCI to all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list.”; examiner notes that updating the common TCI is functionally equivalent to switching to apply another common TCI to the CCs | [0145]: “When a common TCI is indicated by DCI in one BWP/CC included in a CC list, common TCIs for all BWPs/CCs included in the CC list may be updated to the indicated common TCI.” | [0149]: “A TCI field in DL DCI may indicate the common TCI. A new field (for example, a unified TCI field) in DL/UL DCI may indicate the common TCI.” | [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0210]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI and timing of application of the UL common TCI are time t_1. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are equal to each other.”);
transmit an acknowledgement of the command to apply the second common TCI ID to the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.” | [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”);
receive a reference signal (RS) shared by CCs in the set of CCs according to the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura-Liu combination below); and
transmit data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID (see Matsumura-Liu combination below).
Matsumura did not explicitly disclose “receive a reference signal (RS) shared by CCs in the set of CCs according to the second common TCI ID; and transmit data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID.”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that reference signals received after switching to a different common TCI would be received using the new common TCI and that the UE would use the new common TCI when receiving/transmitting data from/to the base station.
However in a related art, Liu disclosed a UE receiving a DCI indicating a new common TCI state (see Liu [0051]), determining whether to use the new or old TCI state (see Liu [0052]), receiving the PDSCH transmission using the new TCI state instead of the old TCI state if the scheduled PDSCH is greater than the thresholdtimeDurationForQCL (see Liu [0056]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 34, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 21. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 34: The baseband processor of claim 33, further configured to transmit the data to or receive the data from the base station, using the set of CCs and in accord with the second common TCI ID, after an action delay including a first time period in which the acknowledgement is transmitted (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.” | [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”).
Regarding claim 35, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 22. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 35: The baseband processor of claim 34, wherein the first time period is based on a smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the set of CCs (see Matsumura [0235]: “Timing of application of the specific field size may be timing after a lapse of specific time from an end of transmission of ACK for a downlink channel for common TCI activation/deactivation. The specific time may be fixed time defined in specifications, may be configured by the RRC, or may be reported by a UE as a UE capability. For example, the fixed time may be 3 ms. The timing of application of the specific field size may be the same as timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation, or may be different from the timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation.”; examiner notes that although using the smallest SCS of the set of CCs is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the specific time period used is a matter of implementation choice. Additionally, Liu disclosed “…The indicated common beam #2 (i.e. new beam) will be applied to (i.e. used for receiving) PDCCH transmission, SPS-PDSCH transmission, PDSCH transmission scheduled by DCI without TCI field, starting from slot n+7, i.e., the first slot that is Y symbols after the acknowledgment (the end of slot n+4, or the start of slot n+5) of the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) indicating a common TCI state change. The actual duration of Y symbols is determined by 1) the SCS configuration of the activated DL BWP for the PDCCH reception carrying the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change: or 2) the SCS configuration of the activated UL BWP for the PUCCH or PUSCH transmission carrying the ACK corresponding to the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the DCI (e.g. DCI #1) containing TCI field indicating common TCI state change…” (see Liu [0062]); examiner notes that although using the “smallest” SCS is not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura-Liu, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that which SCS is being used is a matter of implementation choice.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsumura and Liu to further clarify when the new common TCI is to be used. Including Liu’s teachings regarding dynamic common beam switching would reduce signaling overhead and latency (see Liu [0011]).
Regarding claim 36, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 2. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 36: The baseband processor of claim 34, wherein:
the action delay includes a downlink action delay and an uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”); and
the baseband processor is configured to,
receive a downlink communication from the base station, via the transceiver, after the downlink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.”); and
transmit an uplink communication to the base station, via the transceiver, after the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.” | [0191]: “When the common TCI has been updated by RRC/MAC CE/DCI, the UE may apply a TPC-related parameter corresponding to the updated common TCI to UL transmission using the common TCI.”).
Regarding claim 37, the claim contains the limitations, substantially as claimed, as described in claim 3. Matsumura-Liu disclosed, as recited in claim 37: The baseband processor of claim 34, wherein:
the action delay includes a downlink action delay and an uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0237]: “…Timing of application of the common TCI activation/deactivation and the specific field size based on the common TCI activation/deactivation is 3 ms after an end of transmission of the ACK.”); and
both of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay include the first time period (see Matsumura [0209]: “When a joint common TCI pool for the UL and DL is configured, and a common TCI in the joint common TCI pool is updated/indicated/notified at time t_0, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter may follow at least one of timing 1-1 to timing 1-3 below.”; [0210]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI and timing of application of the UL common TCI are time t_1. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are equal to each other.”); and
the baseband processor is configured to,
determine a maximum of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.”; examiner notes that although determining and using the maximum of the DL or UL delay are not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that which delay is used before transmitting or receiving data is a matter of implementation choice); and
transmit data to or receive data from the base station, via the transceiver, after the maximum of the downlink action delay and the uplink action delay (see Matsumura [0295]: “The transmitting/receiving section 220 may receive the above-described downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, and so on. The transmitting/receiving section 220 may transmit the above-described uplink channel, uplink reference signal, and so on.”; [0217]: “According to the fourth embodiment described above, timing of application of a DL common TCI/UL common TCI/TPC-related parameter can be appropriately determined.”; [0211]: “Timing of application of the DL common TCI is time t_1, and timing of application of the UL common TCI is time t_2. Note, however, that t_1<t_2. In other words, the timing of application of the DL common TCI and the timing of application of the UL common TCI are different from each other.” ; examiner notes that although determining and using the maximum of the DL or UL delay are not explicitly disclosed in Matsumura, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention that which delay is used before transmitting or receiving data is a matter of implementation choice).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ling et al. (U.S. Patent Publication 2024/0405947): two joint or DL common TCI states are applicable in a slot (see Ling [0052]), determining which one of two joint or DL common beams is to be used (see Ling [0062])
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/ANGELA WIDHALM DE RODRIGUEZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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