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 OFFICE ACTION
This action is responsive to the communication received on August 29th, 2024. Claims 1-50 have been canceled. Claims 51-76 have been newly added. Claims 51-76 have been entered and are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on August 29th, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 51-76 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 51, 61, 71, 76 recite “processing circuitry in communication with the radio interface and configured to determine a first spatial filter for a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission based at least in part on a first unified TCl state associated with a first common beam index of the at least one common beam index, wherein a first logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to the first unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states, a second logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to a second unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states, and a third logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to both a first and a second unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states”
It is unclear whether the “a first and a second unified TCI state” refers to the first mentioned “a first unified TCl state” and “a second unified TCl state” or if the “a first and a second unified TCI state” refers to another first and second unified TCI state.
Claims 52-60, 62-70, 72-75 are rejected for the same reason since the claims depend on rejected claims 51, 61, or 71.
Claims 53 and 63 recite “determining a first spatial filter for a first PUCCH transmission.”
It is unclear whether the “a first spatial filter” refers to the first mentioned “a first spatial filter” of claims 51 and 61, respectively or if the “a first spatial filter” refers to another first spatial filter.
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.
Claim(s) 51-54, 56-58, 60-64, 66-68, 70-71, 73-76 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over R1-2106935 in view of JP 7671464.
Regarding claims 51, 61, 71, 76, R1-2106935, the common beam index configuration indicating at least one common beam index (page 4 [each channel /RS may be associated with a common beam index; those channels/RSs with the same index would share the same TCI state]), each of the at least one common beam index being associated with a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a plurality of unified TCl states (page 4, third paragraph, above Proposal-5 "Within the unified TCI framework, if a single common beam is allowed, these different requirements are compromised. From the perspective of network flexibility and possible better system performance, we may consider to support more than one common beam. Namely, for single TRP, M>1 DL TCI states and N>1 UL TCI states could be considered in Rel-17. "); and configured to determine a first spatial filter for a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission based at least in part on a first unified TCl state associated with a first common beam index of the at least one common beam index (page 2, second agreement on page, "Agreement On Rel. 17 unified TCI framework, for common TCI state ID update and activation to provide common QCL information at least for UE-dedicated PDCCH/PDSCH and/or common UL TX spatial filter(s) at least for UE-dedicated PUSCH/PUCCH across a set of configured CCs/BWPs; The source RS determined from the indicated common TCI state ID to provide QCL Type-D indication and to determine UL TX spatial filter for a target CC can be configured in the target CC or other CC "), wherein a first logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to the first unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states (page 4 [each channel /RS may be associated with a common beam index; those channels/RSs with the same index would share the same TCI state]).
R1-2106935 does not explicitly disclose a wireless device (WD) configured to communicate with a network node, the WD comprising: a radio interface configured to receive a common beam index configuration; and processing circuitry in communication with the radio interface; a second logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to a second unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states, and a third logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to both a first and a second unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states.
However, JP 7671464 discloses a wireless device (WD) configured to communicate with a network node (see Figures 1A-1B [wireless device communicating with a RAN]), the WD comprising: a radio interface configured to receive a common beam index configuration (see Figure 15 [wireless communication over an air interface (or radio interface) 1506]); and processing circuitry in communication with the radio interface (see Figure 15 [processing system 1508 ]); a second logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to a second unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states (pages 21, 68 [the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, MAC CE, and/or DCI); The base station may need to transmit two DCIs indicating a downlink common beam (via the first DCI) and an uplink common beam (via the second DCI)]), and a third logical value of the common beam index configuration indicates an association to both a first and a second unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states (page 69 [The third DCI may improve efficiency in terms of downlink resource utilization based on joint indication of the first TCI (as a downlink (common beam) reference) and the second TCI (as an uplink (common beam) reference) indicated by a single DCI (being the third DCI); third DCI including both downlink common beam index and uplink common beam index field]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the TCI states can be associated with common beam index and a DCI such that the UE would be able to determine the common beam index and the TCI states.
Regarding claims 52, 62, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claims 51, 61.
However, JP 7671464 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a second spatial filter for a second PUCCH transmission based at least in part on a second unified TCl state associated with the second common beam index of the at least one common beam index (pages 21, 68 [the wireless device may determine a second spatial filter based on a second TCI of the second plurality of TCIs and transmit an uplink signal, e.g., over at least one of a PUSCH and one or more PUCCH resources (and SRS, etc.) using the second spatial filter; the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, MAC CE, and/or DCI); The base station may need to transmit two DCIs indicating a downlink common beam (via the first DCI) and an uplink common beam (via the second DCI)]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the TCI states can be associated with common beam index and a DCI such that the UE would be able to determine the common beam index and the TCI states.
Regarding claims 53, 63, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claim 51, 61.
However, JP 7671464 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a first spatial filter for a first PUCCH transmission based at least in part on a first unified TCl state associated with a configured first common beam index of the at least one common beam index (page 67 [the wireless device may determine a first spatial filter based on a first TCI of the first plurality of TCIs, and may use the first spatial filter to receive a downlink signal via at least one of the downlink signals/channels, e.g., via a PDSCH and one or more CORESETs (and CSI-RS, etc.)]) and determining a second spatial filter for a second PUCCH transmission based at least in part on a second unified TCl state associated with a configured second common beam index of the at least one common beam index (pages 21, 68 [the wireless device may determine a second spatial filter based on a second TCI of the second plurality of TCIs and transmit an uplink signal, e.g., over at least one of a PUSCH and one or more PUCCH resources (and SRS, etc.) using the second spatial filter; the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, MAC CE, and/or DCI); The base station may need to transmit two DCIs indicating a downlink common beam (via the first DCI) and an uplink common beam (via the second DCI)]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the TCI states can be associated with common beam index and a DCI such that the UE would be able to determine the common beam index and the TCI states.
Regarding claims 54, 64, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claims 51, 61.
However, JP 7671464 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a first and a second spatial filter for a first PUCCH transmission based at least in part on a first and a second unified TCl state associated with a configured first and second common beam index of the at least one common beam index (pages 21, 67-68 [the wireless device may determine a first spatial filter based on a first TCI of the first plurality of TCIs, and may use the first spatial filter to receive a downlink signal via at least one of the downlink signals/channels, e.g., via a PDSCH and one or more CORESETs (and CSI-RS, etc.); the wireless device may determine a second spatial filter based on a second TCI of the second plurality of TCIs and transmit an uplink signal, e.g., over at least one of a PUSCH and one or more PUCCH resources (and SRS, etc.) using the second spatial filter; the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, MAC CE, and/or DCI); The base station may need to transmit two DCIs indicating a downlink common beam (via the first DCI) and an uplink common beam (via the second DCI)]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the TCI states can be associated with common beam index and a DCI such that the UE would be able to determine the common beam index and the TCI states.
Regarding claims 56, 66, 73, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claims 51, 61, 71.
However, JP 7671464 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to receive the common beam index configuration by radio resource control (RRC) signaling (pages 21, 68 [the wireless device may determine a second spatial filter based on a second TCI of the second plurality of TCIs and transmit an uplink signal, e.g., over at least one of a PUSCH and one or more PUCCH resources (and SRS, etc.) using the second spatial filter; the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, MAC CE, and/or DCI); The base station may need to transmit two DCIs indicating a downlink common beam (via the first DCI) and an uplink common beam (via the second DCI)]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the TCI states can be associated with common beam index and a DCI such that the UE would be able to determine the common beam index and the TCI states.
Regarding claims 57, 67, 74, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claims 51, 61, 71.
However, R1-2106935 further discloses wherein each unified TCl state of the plurality of unified TCl states is one of a joint UL/DL TCl state and a separate UL/DL TCl state (page 3 [Alt-1: The same pool of joint DL/UL TCI states is also used for separate beam indication Alt-2: The same pool of joint DL/UL TCI states is used for separate DL beam indication, and a specific pool of UL TCI states is used for separate UL beam indication]).
Regarding claims 58, 68, 75, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claims 51, 61, 71.
However, R1-2106935 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to activate a plurality of the unified TCl states for each of at least one codepoint in a TCl field of a downlink control information (DCI) message (page 5 [When more than one TCI codepoints are activated by MAC CE, the activated TCI state(s) for the lowest codepoint is/are applied]); or receive an indication of a TCl codepoint and activate a plurality of unified TCl states associated with the indicated TCl codepoint.
Regarding claims 60, 70, the references as combined above disclose all the recited subject matter in claim 51, 61.
However, JP 7671464 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: associate one of a PUCCH resource and a PUCCH resource group with one of a plurality of common beam indices configured by the common beam index configuration (page 29, 69 [The UE may determine the PUCCH resource based on a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1) received on the PDCCH; DCI including both fields for a downlink common beam index and an uplink common beam index]); or associate one of a PUCCH resource and a PUCCH resource group with two of a plurality of common beam indices configured by the common beam index configuration.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the TCI states can be associated with common beam index and a DCI such that the UE would be able to determine the common beam index and the TCI states.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 55, 59, 65, 69, 72 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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:
The prior art of record does not explicitly disclose or make obvious:
wherein the common beam index configuration indicates an association of the first PUCCH transmission with a first common beam index when a first bit of the common beam index configuration is a first logical value and indicates an association of the first PUCCH transmission with a second common beam index when the first bit of the common beam index configuration is a second logical value (Claim 55, 65, 72).
Or
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to assume a TCl state of the activated unified TCl states for at least one of a downlink (DL) signal and an uplink (UL) signal (Claims 59, 69).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE whose telephone number is (571)270-3937. The examiner can normally be reached 4pm-11:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached at (571)270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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