DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The instant First Office Action on the merits is in response to preliminary claims filed on 9/24/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1, 12, 13 and 15 are the base independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed before the mailing of a first Office action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97(b). Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
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.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Zhou et al (US 2021/0029719) in view of Yi et al (US 2020/0350972).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication having multiple panels connected to a network device (fig. 32A & par 296; e.g. a wireless device may be equipped with more than one panel), wherein at least one counter and at least one maximum value are configured to the multiple panels (par 166; e.g. a counter parameter and preambleTransMax), the UE comprising:
at least one memory (par 199; e.g. memory); and
at least one processor (par 199; processor) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: at access stratum (AS) (par 66; e.g. access stratum), determine a problem for a panel or (examining note: since the claim shows a limitation in an alternative form, the prior art may teach either or both limitations, and this notice applies to subsequent occurrences of claim limitations that are in the alternative form) for the UE (par 157; a beam failure) when the at least one counter reaches the at least one maximum value (par 165-166; e.g. if the quantity/number of preamble transmissions exceeds a threshold).
The reference does not explicitly disclose transmit an indication of the determined problem to upper layers of the UE or to the network device.
However, Yi discloses:
transmit an indication of the determined problem to upper layers of the UE or to the network device (par 332; e.g. Based on the transmission counter being equal to the preambleTransMax plus one and transmitting the uplink signal on the SpCell, the wireless device may indicate a random-access problem to upper layers (e.g., RRC)).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of communication protocol configured for the electronic system of Yi with the electronic system of Zhou. One is motivated as such to configure separate control (Yi, par 363).
Regarding claim 2, Zhou discloses:
wherein, the problem for the panel is a random access problem for the panel or a radio link control (RLC) retransmissions problem for the panel (par 165; e.g. RACH parameter).
Regarding claim 3, Yi discloses:
wherein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit the indication of the problem to the network device if at least one link between the UE and the network device is available (fig. 26, par 414; e.g. when the second TRP is in a good quality, the wireless device may send a beam failure request to the second TRP).
Regarding claim 4, Yi discloses:
wherein, one counter and one maximum value are configured to each of the multiple panels, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to, when the one counter for one panel reaches the one maximum value for the one panel, determine a problem for the one panel, and transmit the indication of the determined problem for the one panel (par 414; e.g. The wireless device may determine a beam failure event for each TRP based on a beam failure instance max count, for each TRP).
Regarding claim 5, Yi discloses:
wherein, one counter and one maximum value are configured to each of the multiple panels, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to; when the one counter for one panel reaches the one maximum value for the one panel, determine a problem for the one panel; and upon determining the problem for all panels, determining the problem for at least one panel, or determining the problem for a configured number of the panels, transmit the indication of the problem for the UE (par 384; e.g. The wireless device may report {the second candidate beam, the second TRP index} for the second TRP. The wireless device may indicate a TRP index in the report of a candidate beam. A base station, in response to the receiving the report, may perform a beam recovery of the indicated TRP based on the indicated candidate beam; also par 414, par 419).
Regarding claim 6, Yi discloses:
wherein, one counter is configured to each of the multiple panels, and one maximum value is configured to all the multiple panels, and the processor is configured to, upon the one counter for one panel reaching the one maximum value for all the multiple panels, determine a problem for the one panel, and transmit the indication of the problem for the panel (par 305; e.g. reaches a configured threshold (e.g., beam failure instance max count, beamFailureinstanceMaxCount); also see par 380, par 384, par 414, par 419, hence obviously for one or more panels).
Regarding claim 7, Yi discloses:
wherein, one counter is configured to each of the multiple panels, and one maximum value is configured to all panels the multiple panels, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: when the one counter for one panel reaches the one maximum value for the one panel, determine a problem for the one panel; and upon determining the problem for all panels, determining the problem for at least one panel, or determining the problem for a configured number of the panels, transmit the indication of the problem for the UE (par 305; e.g. reaches a configured threshold (e.g., beam failure instance max count, beamFailureinstanceMaxCount); also see par 380, par 384, par 414, par 419, hence obviously for one or more panels).
Regarding claim 8, Zhou discloses:
wherein, one counter and one maximum value are configured to all the multiple panels, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: when the one counter reaches the one maximum value, determine a problem for the UE; and transmit the indication of the problem for the UE (par 165-166; e.g. if the quantity/number of preamble transmissions exceeds a threshold; par 173, the base station may configure the wireless device with one or more beam failure recovery parameters).
Regarding claim 9, Yi discloses:
wherein, one counter and one maximum value are configured to all the multiple panels, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: when the one counter reaches the one maximum value for one panel, determine a problem for the one panel, and transmit the indication of the problem for the one panel (par 419; e.g. the wireless device may select a BFR procedure for a TRP with a lower TRP index; also par 427, par 429).
Regarding claim 10, Zhou discloses:
wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to: receive, at the upper layers, the indication of the problem for the UE; and determine a radio link failure for the UE (par 95; e.g. RRC layers 216 and 226…detection of and recovery from radio link failure).
Regarding claim 11, Yi discloses:
receive, at the upper layers, the indication of the problem for the panels; and determine a radio link failure for the UE upon receiving the indication of the problem for all panels, upon receiving the indication of the problem for at least one panel, or upon receiving the indication of the problem for a configured number of the panels (par 332, par 419; e.g. the wireless device may select a BFR procedure for a TRP with a lower TRP index; also par 427, par 429).
Regarding claim 12, Zhou in view of Yi also discloses a method performed by the UE of claim 1 similarly.
Regarding claim 13, Zhou disclose a network device for wireless communication having multiple links to a user equipment (UE) (par 157; beam pair links), wherein each link is associated with one panel of the UE (fig. 32A & par 296; e.g. a wireless device may be equipped with more than one panel), the network device comprising: at least one memory (par 199; e.g. memory); and at least one processor (par 199; processor) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the network device to: perform a procedure to restore one or more panels associated with the indication of the problem for the panel or for the UE (par 237; e.g. the BWP switching may be controlled by a base station and/or a wireless device (e.g., a MAC entity of a base station and/or a wireless device), for example, based on (e.g., after or in response to) initiating a random access procedure).
The reference does not explicitly disclose:
receive an indication of a problem for a panel or for the UE.
However, Yi discloses:
receive an indication of a problem for a panel or for the UE (par 332; e.g. Based on the transmission counter being equal to the preambleTransMax plus one and transmitting the uplink signal on the SpCell, the wireless device may indicate a random-access problem to upper layers (e.g., RRC)).
In view of the above, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of communication protocol configured for the electronic system of Yi with the electronic system of Zhou. One is motivated as such to configure separate control (Yi, par 363).
Regarding claim 14, Yi discloses:
receive the indication of the problem for the UE on one link, wherein the one or more panels associated with the indication of the problem include all panels of the UE except for the panel associated with the one link (fig. 26, par 414; e.g. when the second TRP is in a good quality, the wireless device may send a beam failure request to the second TRP).
Regarding claims 15-20, Zhou in view of Yi also discloses a processor of the UE of claim 1 similarly based on rejection mapping of claims 1-4 and 10-11 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOTANG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4023. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00-18:00 ET (M, W, TH & alternate F).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, HADI ARMOUCHE can be reached at 571-270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOTANG WANG/SCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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