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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 08/14/2024.
Claims 1-30 are currently pending.
Claims 10-11, 18-19, 21-22, 28 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims.
Claims 1-9, 12-17, 20, 23-27, 29-30 are rejected.
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)(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 1-2, 8, 12, 25-26, 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Joontae Kim et al (US 20220394644 A1).
For Claim 1, Kim discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory (Kim teaches, in FIG. 3, that the wireless communication device 100 may include a plurality of antennas 110, a radio frequency (RF) circuit 120, a processor 130, a local oscillator 140, and/or a memory 150, that) and configured to: receive a neighboring reference signal (RS) resource configuration associated with an RS resource set (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0059, lines 1-4, that a wireless communication device may receive a plurality of x-th through y-th SSBs SSB_x,m through SSB_y,m from a base station in an m-th SSB period, where “m” is an integer); and identify one or more neighboring RS resources associated with at least one target RS resource based on the neighboring RS resource configuration (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0055, that The neighbor SSB determinator 131a may determine at least one neighbor SSB, which may be used instead of the target SSB to perform frequency offset correction, from a plurality of SSBs received within a certain SSB period).
For Claim 2, Kim discloses an apparatus, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit information based on the at least one target RS resource and the one or more neighboring RS resources (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0042, that The wireless communication device 100 may perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX_B2 selectively using one of a target SSB and/or a neighbor SSB based on the determination result. Kim teaches, in ¶ 0042, that The wireless communication device 100 may generate the reception quality of an SSB based on various matrices that may indicate the reception quality).
For Claim 8, Kim discloses an apparatus, wherein the neighboring RS resource configuration
includes at least one RS identifier (ID), each of the at least one RS ID indicating the one
or more neighboring RS resources of a corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0059, lines 1-4, that a wireless communication device may receive a plurality of x-th through y-th SSBs SSB_x,m through SSB_y,m from a base station in an m-th SSB period, where “m” is an integer).
Kim also teaches, in ¶ 0044, that the wireless communication device 100 may generate (or measure, or determine) a reception quality with respect to the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, compare the reception quality with a reference quality, and determine to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX_B2 using the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, when the reception quality is equal to or higher than the reference quality.
For Claim 12, Kim discloses an apparatus, further comprising: at least one transceiver configured to receive the neighboring RS resource configuration, wherein the resource set comprises at least one of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource set or a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource set (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0055, that The neighbor SSB determinator 131a may determine at least one neighbor SSB, which may be used instead of the target SSB to perform frequency offset correction, from a plurality of SSBs received within a certain SSB period).
For Claim 25, please refer to the rejection for Claim 1, above.
For Claim 26, Kim discloses an apparatus, wherein the neighboring RS resource configuration includes at least one of: one or more bitmaps, each bitmap indicating the one or more neighboring RS resources of a corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set, or at least one RS identifier (ID), each of the at least one RS ID indicating the one or more neighboring RS resources of the corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0059, lines 1-4, that a wireless communication device may receive a plurality of x-th through y-th SSBs SSB_x,m through SSB_y,m from a base station in an m-th SSB period, where “m” is an integer).
Kim also teaches, in ¶ 0044, that the wireless communication device 100 may generate (or measure, or determine) a reception quality with respect to the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, compare the reception quality with a reference quality, and determine to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX_B2 using the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, when the reception quality is equal to or higher than the reference quality.
For Claim 30, please refer to the rejection for Claim 1, above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 3-7, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Joontae Kim et al (US 20220394644 A1) in view of Yifan Xue et al (US 20240283599 A1).
For Claim 3, Kim disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that the neighboring RS resource configuration includes at least one bitmap, each bitmap indicating the one or more neighboring RS resources of a corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set.
However, Xue, in the analogous art, discloses that the neighboring RS resource configuration includes at least one bitmap, each bitmap indicating the one or more neighboring RS resources of a corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set (Xue teaches, in ¶ 0224, When the subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz and the carrier frequency is greater than 3 GHZ, the maximum quantity of predefined SSBs may be eight, and the bitmap of the second configuration information may be 8 bits, to indicate eight SSBs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the indication bits taught in Xue. The motivation is to provides a feasible solution for the network device to indicate the plurality of reference signal resource sets or the plurality of SSBs to the terminal device [Xue: ¶ 0009].
For Claim 4, Kim disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that each bitmap includes a plurality of bits, each bit of the plurality of bits indicating whether each RS resource of the RS resource set is included in the one or more neighboring RS resources.
However, Xue, in the analogous art, discloses that each bitmap includes a plurality of bits, each bit of the plurality of bits indicating whether each RS resource of the RS resource set is included in the one or more neighboring RS resources (Xue teaches, in ¶ 0019, that the terminal device may determine, based on the third configuration information, the quantity of reference signal resource sets or SSBs associated with each indication bit, determine, based on the quantity of reference signal resource sets or SSBs associated with each indication bit, the reference signal resource set or SSB associated with each indication bit).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the indication bits taught in Xue. The motivation is to provides a feasible solution for the network device to indicate the plurality of reference signal resource sets or the plurality of SSBs to the terminal device [Xue: ¶ 0009].
For Claim 5, Kim disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that the plurality of bits includes N-1 bits, wherein N refers to a total number of RS resources in the RS resource set.
However, Xue, in the analogous art, discloses that the plurality of bits includes N-1 bits, wherein N refers to a total number of RS resources in the RS resource set (Xue teaches, in ¶ 0239, that the fourth configuration information M−1 may be used to configure a location of an indication bit that is associated with a reference signal resource set M−1 and that is in the first DCI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the indication bits taught in Xue. The motivation is to provides a feasible solution for the network device to indicate the plurality of reference signal resource sets or the plurality of SSBs to the terminal device [Xue: ¶ 0009].
For Claim 6, Kim disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that each bitmap indicates a subset of the RS resource set that is included in the one or more neighboring RS resources.
However, Xue, in the analogous art, discloses that each bitmap indicates a subset of the RS resource set that is included in the one or more neighboring RS resources (Xue teaches, in ¶ 0239, that The fourth configuration information 0 may be used to configure a location of an indication bit that is associated with a reference signal resource set 0 and that is in the first DCI, the fourth configuration information 1 may be used to configure a location of an indication bit that is associated with a reference signal resource set 1 and that is in the first DCI).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the indication bits taught in Xue. The motivation is to provides a feasible solution for the network device to indicate the plurality of reference signal resource sets or the plurality of SSBs to the terminal device [Xue: ¶ 0009].
For Claim 7, Kim disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception that each bitmap includes a plurality of bits, each bit of the plurality of bits indicating whether each RS resource of a subset of the RS resource set is included in the one or more neighboring RS resources.
However, Xue, in the analogous art, discloses that each bitmap includes a plurality of bits, each bit of the plurality of bits indicating whether each RS resource of a subset of the RS resource set is included in the one or more neighboring RS resources (Xue teaches, in ¶ 0222, that when the second configuration information is used to configure the one or more reference signal resource sets associated with the 1 indication bit, the length of the bitmap may be determined based on the quantity of reference signal resource sets associated with the first DCI. Xue teaches, in ¶ 0040 that the first indication bit is associated with one or more SSBs, and the first indication bit indicates whether a reference signal corresponding to the SSB associated with the first indication bit is sent).
Xue further teaches, in ¶ 0239, that the fourth configuration information M−1 may be used to configure a location of an indication bit that is associated with a reference signal resource set M−1 and that is in the first DCI
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the indication bits taught in Xue. The motivation is to provides a feasible solution for the network device to indicate the plurality of reference signal resource sets or the plurality of SSBs to the terminal device [Xue: ¶ 0009].
For Claim 9, Kim teaches, in ¶ 0044, that the wireless communication device 100 may generate (or measure, or determine) a reception quality with respect to the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, compare the reception quality with a reference quality, and determine to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX_B2 using the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, when the reception quality is equal to or higher than the reference quality.
Kim fails to expressly disclose a bitmap indicating the one or more neighboring RS resources of the corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set.
However, Xue, in the analogous art, discloses a bitmap indicating the one or more neighboring RS resources of the corresponding RS resource of the RS resource set (Xue teaches, in ¶ 0224, When the subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz and the carrier frequency is greater than 3 GHZ, the maximum quantity of predefined SSBs may be eight, and the bitmap of the second configuration information may be 8 bits, to indicate eight SSBs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the indication bits taught in Xue. The motivation is to provides a feasible solution for the network device to indicate the plurality of reference signal resource sets or the plurality of SSBs to the terminal device [Xue: ¶ 0009].
Claims 13-17, 20, 24, 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Joontae Kim et al (US 20220394644 A1) in view of Deokhui Lee et al (US 20240297683 A1).
For Claim 13, Kim discloses, in ¶ 0074, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine whether the reception quality of the neighbor SSB is equal to or higher than a reference quality (e.g., a neighbor SSB having a reception quality equal to or higher than the reference quality may be determined to be suitable for use in performing the automatic frequency control).
Kim fails to expressly disclose that the neighboring RS resource configuration is comprised in a channel status information (CSI) report setting or a CSI resource setting.
However, Lee, in the analogous art, discloses that the neighboring RS resource configuration is comprised in a channel status information (CSI) report setting or a CSI resource setting (Lee teaches, in ¶ 0105, that The UE connected to the first cell may receive, from the first cell, a message (e.g., an RRC reconfiguration message) including measurement configuration (measConfig) associated with the plurality of other cells different from the first cell … The UE may report a measurement result to the first cell based on, for example, the measurement result satisfying a reporting condition).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the measurement configuration taught in Lee. The motivation is so that the UE may identify frequencies (e.g., ARFCN) of a plurality of different cells based on a measurement object included in the measurement configuration [Lee: ¶ 0105].
For Claim 14, Kim discloses an apparatus, the at least one channel measurement includes at least one of a physical layer (L1) reference signal received power (RSRP) (L1-RSRP) or an L1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) (L1-SINR) (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0044, that the reception quality of an SSB may include at least one selected from a reference signal received power (RSRP) of the SSB and/or a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the SSB).
For Claim 15, Kim discloses an apparatus, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform channel measurements of the RS resource set, and the at least one target RS resource is identified based on the channel measurements of the RS resource set (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0044, that the wireless communication device 100 may generate (or measure, or determine) a reception quality with respect to the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, compare the reception quality with a reference quality, and determine to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX_B2 using the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1, when the reception quality is equal to or higher than the reference quality).
For Claim 16, Kim discloses an apparatus, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive an identifier of the at least one target RS resource (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0044, that the wireless communication device 100 may generate (or measure, or determine) a reception quality with respect to the target SSB, e.g., the first SSB SSB1).
For Claim 17, Kim disclose all of the claimed subject matter with the exception to prioritize reporting of the one or more neighboring RS resources based on at least one of the at least one target RS resource or the one or more neighboring RS resources.
However, Lee, in the analogous art, discloses to prioritize reporting of the one or more neighboring RS resources based on at least one of the at least one target RS resource or the one or more neighboring RS resources (Lee teaches, in ¶ 0102, that the priority order may also be determined for the predetermined SSB and neighboring SSBs together. For example, compPriorityPerSSBGroup (i, k, n), which is a priority associated with a SSB group corresponding to the n-th SSB of the k-th cell associated with the i-th UE and neighboring SSBs thereof).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the measurement configuration taught in Lee. The motivation is so that the UE may identify frequencies (e.g., ARFCN) of a plurality of different cells based on a measurement object included in the measurement configuration [Lee: ¶ 0105].
For Claim 20, Kim discloses, in ¶ 0060, that The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate channel estimates using at least one selected from a PSS, an SSS, and/or a PBCH of the target SSB, e.g., the j-th SSB SSB_j,m, and generate a differential correlation result by calculating a differential correlation of the channel estimates.
Kim fails to expressly disclose receiving a machine learning configuration that indicates the resource set.
However, Lee, in the analogous art, discloses receiving a machine learning configuration that indicates the resource set (Lee teaches, in ¶ 0044, that According to an embodiment, the processor 120a and/or the processor 120b may include at least a portion of a central processing unit, an application processor, a neural processing unit (NPU), or a communication processor, but the type of the processor 120a and/or the processor 120b is not limited. A neural network processing device may include a hardware structure specialized for processing an artificial intelligence model. An artificial intelligence model may include machine learning (e.g., reinforcement learning, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, or semi-supervised learning), but it is not limited thereto).
Lee also teaches in ¶ 0010 obtaining a first overlapping degree between a beamforming direction of the first SSB from the second cell and a beamforming direction for transmission of downlink traffic of a second user equipment connected to the second cell, and a second overlapping degree between a beamforming direction of the second SSB from the third cell and a beamforming direction for transmission of downlink traffic of a third user equipment connected to the third cell
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the measurement configuration taught in Lee. The motivation is so that the UE may identify frequencies (e.g., ARFCN) of a plurality of different cells based on a measurement object included in the measurement configuration [Lee: ¶ 0105].
For Claim 24, Kim discloses a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a neighboring reference signal (RS) resource configuration associated with an RS resource set (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0059, lines 1-4, that a wireless communication device may receive a plurality of x-th through y-th SSBs SSB_x,m through SSB_y,m from a base station in an m-th SSB period, where “m” is an integer); identifying one or more neighboring RS resources associated with at least one target RS resource based on the neighboring RS resource configuration (Kim teaches, in ¶ 0055, that The neighbor SSB determinator 131a may determine at least one neighbor SSB, which may be used instead of the target SSB to perform frequency offset correction, from a plurality of SSBs received within a certain SSB period).
Kim fails to expressly disclose transmitting information based on the at least one target RS resource and the one or more neighboring RS resources.
However, Lee, in the analogous art, discloses transmitting information based on the at least one target RS resource and the one or more neighboring RS resources (Lee teaches, in ¶ 0105, that … The UE may report a measurement result to the first cell based on, for example, the measurement result satisfying a reporting condition).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the measurement configuration taught in Lee. The motivation is so that the UE may identify frequencies (e.g., ARFCN) of a plurality of different cells based on a measurement object included in the measurement configuration [Lee: ¶ 0105].
For Claim 27, please refer to the rejection of Claim 20, above.
Claims 23, 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Joontae Kim et al (US 20220394644 A1) in view of Dalin Zhu et al (US 20240031855 A1).
For Claims 23, 29, Kim discloses, in ¶ 0074, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine whether the reception quality of the neighbor SSB is equal to or higher than a reference quality (e.g., a neighbor SSB having a reception quality equal to or higher than the reference quality may be determined to be suitable for use in performing the automatic frequency control).
Kim fails to expressly disclose receiving an indication to activate one neighboring RS resource configuration among the set of neighboring RS resource configurations.
However, Zhu, in the analogous art, discloses receiving an indication to activate one neighboring RS resource configuration among the set of neighboring RS resource configurations (Zhu teaches, in ¶ 0124, that The UE could then receive from the network a MAC CE command activating one or more SSBs/SSB resource indices from the RRC configured list/pool of SSBs/SSB resource indices for the first (second) set of SSBs from the serving cell/TRP).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system in Kim with the QCL information taught in Zhu. The motivation is so that the QCL information (QCL source RS) can correspond to a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) [Zhu: ¶ 0090].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-11, 18-19, 21-22, 28 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 10-11, 18-19, 21-22, 28 are considered allowable because the prior art does not teach limitations including:
“the neighboring RS resource configuration includes precoding information associated with a direction of a corresponding beam among the set of beams, and the one or more neighboring RS resources includes a subset of RS resources among the RS resource set, the subset of RS resources having smallest precoding differences from the at least one target RS resource,” in addition to other claim limitations as recited, in various permutations, in independent claim 10.
“wherein the at least one channel measurement includes the first neighboring RS resource set having a higher priority over the second neighboring RS resource set based on at least one of the first target RS resource having a greater channel measurement than the second target RS resource or the first neighboring RS resource set having a greater number RS resources than the second neighboring RS resource set,” in addition to other claim limitations as recited, in various permutations, in independent claim 18.
“wherein the at least one channel measurement includes the first neighboring RS resource having a higher priority over the second neighboring RS resource based on a first identifier (ID) of at least one of the first neighboring RS resource in comparison to a second ID of the second neighboring RS resource,” in addition to other claim limitations as recited, in various permutations, in independent claim 19.
“transmit an indication of a predicted beam failure or a predicted beam blockage based on the machine learning configuration and the resource set, wherein the neighboring RS resource configuration is comprised in a beam failure detection (BFD) RS (BFD-RS) configuration,” in addition to other claim limitations as recited, in various permutations, in independent claims 21,28.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Niu et al (US 20250167952 A1) teaches Systems and methods provide Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement and transmission configuration indication (TCI) state switching, wherein, the SSB index configuration uses non-adjacent SSB indexes between the plurality of TRPs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED A KAMARA whose telephone number is (571)2705629. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-4PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHARLES JIANG can be reached at (571)2707191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMED A KAMARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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