Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office action is in response to application filed 10/07/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending and presented for examination.
Priority
Priority of the provisional application filed 04/08/2022 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/07/2024 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 § 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.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lo et al. (US 2022/0046438 A1) in view of Zhou et al. (US 2021/0092003 A1) and Tsai et al.(US 2021/0029724 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Lo discloses a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) configured to perform beam failure recovery in a system utilizing a multiple input- multiple output (MIMO) scheme, the WTRU comprising:
a processor (see fig. 1, 113); and a transceiver (see fig. 1, 111-112);
the processor and the transceiver configured to receive configuration information comprising beam failure recovery parameters (see para. 0060-0061, discloses configuration of resources for BFD), the beam failure recovery parameters comprising:
information indicating a number of resources of a first beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) resource set to be monitored (see para. 0060-0061, discloses resources of BFD-RS to be monitored); and
priority information associated with each of the resources of the first BFD-RS resource set (see fig. 4, discloses priority as frequency of reporting period for each BFD RSs, i.e. periodicity of configured BFD RSs.);
the processor and the transceiver configured to monitor the indicated number of resources of the first BFD-RS resource set based on the priority information associated with each of the resources (see para. 0065, describes assessing the radio link quality per BFD-RS set), wherein monitoring the indicated number of resources of the first BFD-RS resource set comprises:
the processor and the transceiver configured to measure, using a first measurement periodicity, a first signal quality metric for a first subset of resources of the first BFD-RS resource set (para. 0065, different BFI indications for different TRPs, “in an embodiment of the invention, for the TRP 120, a first reporting period PTRP #0 of the first BFI indication BFITRP #0 from lower layer of the UE 110 to a higher of the UE 110 may be associated with a first set of BFD-RS which correspond to a first coresetpoolindex or TRP_ID”); and
the processor and the transceiver configured to measure, using a second measurement periodicity, a second signal quality metric for a second subset of resources of the first BFD-RS resource set (See Id. describes performing the measurement for second TRP, i.e. second BFD-RS or any number of configured TRPs or CoresetpoolIndex);
the processor and the transceiver configured to transmit a message to obtain a second BFD-RS resource set, the message including an index associated with one of the resources of the first BFD-RS resource set (see para. 0116-0117, discloses reporting the beam failure or measurement to the base station, such as by identifying using an index of the first resource set, reporting beam failure for the first set, allow the UE to retrieve a second resource set, such as with BS 130, such as in default beam or from candidate list);
the processor and the transceiver configured to transmit at least a first beam failure recover y request message (BFRQ) to perform beam failure recovery using one of the resources of the second BFD-RS resource set (see para. 0102-0105, discloses performing BFR that could be for any RS set being monitored, since scheduling Request).
Lo fails to disclose but Zhou discloses the processor and the transceiver configured to receive reconfiguration information indicating the second BFD-RS resource set, wherein the second BFD- RS resource set includes resources selected based on the one of the resources of the first BFD-resource set (fig. 4-6, para. 0050-0051, 0060-0061, 0076-0077, discloses reconfiguration with an indication of second resource set, the second set selected based on first failing or over improved signal strength). Further, Tsai discloses the processor and the transceiver configured to receive a response to the at least the first BFRQ indicating that beam failure recovery procedure is complete (see fig. 1, 108, para. 0054, discloses completing the BFR process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify to include reconfiguration and competition message as described by Zhou and Tsai.
The motivation for doing so would be to allow performing successful beam failure recovery by configuration additional resource sets.
Regarding claims 2, 12, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method, wherein the response to the at least the first BFRQ includes downlink control information (DCI) including information confirming the first BFRQ to perform beam failure recovery using the one of the resources of the second BFD-RS resource set (Zhou at para. 0051, 0063, describes the response as DCI and including recovery information of second set).
Regarding claims 3, 13, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method, wherein the response to the at least the first BFRQ includes downlink control information (DCI) including information overriding the first BFRQ to perform beam failure recovery using the one of the resources of the second BFD-RS resource set, wherein the DCI further indicates a different resource to be used for beam failure recovery (Zhou at para. 0051, 0063, describes the response as DCI and including recovery information of second set).
Regarding claim 4, 14, Lo fails to disclose the method, wherein the response to the at least the first BFRQ includes downlink control information (DCI) including information indicating to transmit a second BFRQ, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the second BFRQ and receiving DCI responsive to the second BFRQ, and wherein the DCI responsive to the second BFRQ includes one of information confirming or overriding the second BFRQ.
However, as described with respect to claims 3, 13, Zhou explicitly discloses wherein the response to the at least the first BFRQ includes downlink control information (DCI) including information overriding the first BFRQ to perform beam failure recovery using the one of the resources of the second BFD-RS resource set, wherein the DCI further indicates a different resource to be used for beam failure recovery (Zhou at para. 0051, 0063, describes the response as DCI and including recovery information of second set).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify to include further comprises transmitting the second BFRQ and receiving DCI responsive to the second BFRQ, and wherein the DCI responsive to the second BFRQ includes one of information confirming or overriding the second BFRQ, since it has been held that mere duplication of essential working parts of a device only involves routine skill in the art. In reHarza, 274 F.2d 669, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960).
The motivation for doing so would be to allow beam failure recovery by finding a good beam.
Regarding claim 5, 15, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method wherein the beam failure recovery parameters include information indicating whether to include assistance information when transmitting a BFRQ (Lo, see para. 0112, discloses including candidate IDs); wherein the assistance information includes one or more of: a new beam identifier (NBI), a signal quality measurement associated with the new beam identifier, or a difference between a signal quality measurement associated with a new beam identifier and a threshold value (Tsai, para. 0050-0053).
Regarding claims 6, 16, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method, wherein the NBI identifies one of a beam associated with a highest signal quality measurement or a beam having a signal quality metric that exceeds the threshold value (see para. 0050-0053).
Regarding claims 7, 17, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method, wherein the assistance information is transmitted using resources associated with a physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion, a random access channel (RACH) occasion, or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a medium access control element (MAC CE) (Tsai, see para. 0050-0053).
Regarding claims 8, 18, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method, wherein the message to obtain the second BFD-RS resource set is one of a BFRQ, a beam switch request (BSR), a beam switch recommendation, or a beam switch order (Zhou para. 0061).
Regarding claims 9, 19, Lo discloses the method, wherein the message transmitted to obtain the second BFD-RS resource set includes an indication of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, and wherein the reconfiguration information is received using parameters based on the indicated TCI state (see para. 0060-0064, the BFD-RS can correspond directly to TCI state).
Regarding claims 10, 20, the combination of Lo, Zhou and Tsai discloses the method, wherein the first signal quality metric is a layer 1 (L1) signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and wherein the second signal quality metric is an L1-reference signal receive power (RSRP) (Tsai, para. 0312, discloses wherein the signal quality can be chosen from SINR or RSRP).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NISHANT B DIVECHA whose telephone number is (571)270-3125. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM-6:00 PM.
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NISHANT B. DIVECHA
Supervisory Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419
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