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 .
Claims 18-23 are pending.
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.
Claim(s) 18, 20-21, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. US 20240007872 in view of Zhang et al. US 20230337075.
Regarding claim 18, A method of a User Equipment (UE) (terminal device, Figures 5, 7) comprising: receiving, from a base station, a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) triggering cell switch to a target cell, wherein the MAC CE comprises information indicating a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state (terminal device receives beam configuration information sent by a network device which includes at least one of a TCI state ID, a TCI state list, or a TCI state pattern, para. 0071, trigger change in the beam configuration information and switch of a TCI state corresponding to the PDSCH or the PDCCH during the beam switch according to a MAC-CE configured by the network, para. 0157).
Hu does not expressly disclose performing a random access procedure towards the target cell, and applying, after completion of the random access procedure for Layerl/ Layer2 triggered mobility, the TCI State for reception.
Zhang discloses the UE receiving a MAC CE from a source serving cell to trigger a PRACH to a target serving cell, para. 0061, detecting a trigger to perform a physical random access channel (PRACH) process based on a signal from a source serving cell; transmitting, based on said detecting of the trigger, a PRACH message to a target serving cell; and receiving a random access response from the target serving cell with an indication of CRNTI 2 to be used for signaling in the neighbor cell, para. 0063, 0180. Zhang discloses for L1/L2 handovers, the base station can provide an indication of a TCI state that is associated with a neighbor cell and in C-RNTI configuration, the RRC signaling may associate C-RNTI information with a TCI state, para. 0055-0056. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Hu to include Zhang’s cell switching method. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so to a user equipment to communicatively couple with a plurality of base stations, para. 0001.
Regarding claim 20, The method of claim 18, wherein: the TCI state provided by the MAC CE is related to quasi co-location type of type D (the TCI state ID, the TCI state list, or the TCI state pattern includes a quasi co-location (QCL) information type associated with a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a positioning reference signal (PRS) in a serving cell or a non-serving cell, where the QCL information type includes QCL-type D, Hu, para. 0174).
Claim(s) 19, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu in view of Zhang in view of Yuan et al. US 20260155881.
Regarding claim 19, The method of claim 18, further comprising: Hu and Zhang do not expressly disclose assuming that Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS) antenna ports for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) receptions is quasi co-located with a synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block in the TCI state. Yuan discloses base station may provide the UE with a configuration of transmission configuration information (TCI) states that respectively indicate beams that may be used by the UE, such as for receiving a PDSCH. The base station may indicate an activated TCI state to the UE, which the UE may use to select a beam for receiving the PDSCH, para. 0053. Yuan discloses after a wireless communication device receives an initial higher layer configuration of TCI states and before reception of the activation command, the wireless communication device may assume that the DM-RS ports of PDSCH of a serving cell are quasi co-located with the SS/PBCH block determined in the initial access procedure with respect to with respect to ‘QCL-TypeD’, para. 0057. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Hu and Zhang to include Yuan’s beam switching method. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for improving spectral efficiency and lowering costs, para. 0005.
Claim 22 is rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hong et al. US 20250071639 discloses receiving an upper layer message including one or more pieces of candidate target cell configuration information for an L1/L2-triggered mobility (LTM) operation; receiving a medium access control element (MAC CE) instructing the execution of the LTM operation on a target cell; and performing a detach operation from a source cell on the basis of the MAC CE, and performing the cell change operation by applying the candidate target cell configuration information for the target cell.
Matsumura et al. US 20230080431 discloses a receiving section that receives configuration information related to an uplink signal and a control section that uses, in a case where the configuration information satisfies an application condition and quasi-co-location type D in a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state for a downlink channel.
Kim et al. US 20240237125 discloses supporting layer 2 mobility using a first Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) comprising an identifier associated with the first configuration information.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELANIE JAGANNATHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3163. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/MELANIE JAGANNATHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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