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 1-3,5,8-12,14, and 18 are amended.
Claims 4,6,7,13, and 15-17 are cancelled.
Claims 1-3,5,8-12,14, and 18 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.
Claim(s) 1,3,5,8-11,14, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 20240414674) in view of Mao (US 20240357695).
Re claim 1:
Xu discloses a method comprising: receiving, from a base station, configuration information related to a plurality of control resource sets (CORESETs), wherein i) first CORESETs based on a first pool index and a second control resource set (CORESET) pool index are configured based on the configuration information (Para.[0219] The base station may transmit, via one or more of the multiple TRPs, to a wireless device one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of CORESETs of a cell (or of a BWP of the cell). Each of the plurality of CORESETs may be identified with a CORESET index. Each of the plurality of CORESETs may be associated with (or configured with) a CORESET pool (or group) index); and
receiving, from the base station, a Timing Advance Group (TAG) configuration, wherein i) a first time alignment timer for a first TAG and ii) a second time alignment timer for a second TAG are configured based on the TAG configuration (Para.[0224] The wireless device may receive, from the baser station, configuration parameters indicating the first TAG associated with the first TRP (e.g., TRP1) or first CORESET pool index (e.g., CORESET pool index0). The wireless device may receive, from the baser station, the configuration parameters indicating the second TAG associated with the second TRP (e.g., TRP2) or second CORESET pool index (e.g., CORESET pool index1)…The configuration parameters may include a first time alignment timer (TAT) associated with the first TRP (e.g., TRP1) and/or the first panel (e.g., panel1). The configuration parameters may indicate a second TAT associated with the second TRP (e.g., TRP2) and/or the second panel (e.g., panel2). The wireless device may perform uplink transmissions with the multiple TRPs based on the first TAT and the second TAT),
wherein the first TAG is associated with a first Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state for the first CORESETs, and the second TAG is associated with a second TCI state for the second CORESETs (Para.[0160] In an example, the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE and Claim 1 two timing advance groups (TAGs), for the cell, comprising a first TAG and a second TAG; and a configured uplink grant with a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that is associated with the first TAG and Claim 2 wherein the configuration parameters indicate a second configured uplink grant with a second TCI state that is associated with the second TAG),
wherein operations for maintenance of uplink time alignment are performed based on the first time alignment timer (Para.[0240] The wireless device may consider the second TAT as expired in response to the first TAT being expired):
the operations, which include at least one of i) flushing all Hybrid Automatic Repeat and reQuest (HARQ) buffers, ii) releasing Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), iii) releasing Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), iv) clearing any configured downlink assignments and configured uplink grants, v) clearing any Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource for semi-persistent CSI reporting and vi) maintaining NTA, are performed (Para.[227] The wireless device may clear or release the first radio resources in response to the first TAT being expired and Para.[0117] For an uplink BWP in a set of configured uplink BWPs, a BS may configure a UE with one or more resource sets for one or more PUCCH transmissions.).
As shown above, Xu discloses releasing resources when a time alignment timer expires. Xu does not explicitly disclose operations are performed based on the first alignment timer and the second alignment timer.
Mao discloses operations are performed based on the first alignment timer and the second alignment timer (Para.[0006] The terminal device performs the following operations based on a running state of at least one of a first time alignment timer and a second time alignment timer and Para.[0019] Optionally, the terminal device side may maintain two time alignment timers, that is, the second time alignment timer and the first time alignment timer. and Para.[0051] In another possible design, that the second time alignment timer is not running includes: The first time alignment timer is not running and the second time alignment timer is not running and Para.[0020] That the second time alignment timer is not running may alternatively indicate that the second time alignment timer expires and Para.[0092] In another possible design, the processing unit is further configured to: when the second timer expires, release the configured grant resource).
Xu and Mao are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xu to include operations based on a first expired timer and a second timer not running as taught by Mao in order to improve small data transmission efficiency (Mao Para.[0005]).
Re claim 3:
Xu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the maintaining NTA is performed for i) the first TAG and the second TAG or ii) the first TAG or the second TAG related to the expired time alignment timer (Claim 3 further limits an alternative of claim 1. Since Xu discloses releasing resource, the limitations of claim 3 have been met).
Re claim 5:
Xu discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, a random access response (RAR) includes a timing advance command for the first TAG or the second TAG (Para.[0174] The Msg 2 1312 may include a time-alignment command that may be used by the UE to adjust the UE's transmission timing, a scheduling grant for transmission of the Msg 3 1313).
Re claim 8:
As discussed above, Xu in view of Mao meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Xu does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 5, wherein the timing advance command indicates an index related to timing adjustment, and NTA for calculating a timing advance (TA) is indicated based on the index related to the timing adjustment.
Mao discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the timing advance command indicates an index related to timing adjustment, and NTA for calculating a timing advance (TA) is indicated based on the index related to the timing adjustment (Para.[0247] The timing advance is also referred to as a timing advance value or timing advance (N.sub.TA for short). TA is usually used for uplink transmission of a terminal device, and indicates that uplink data of the terminal device is sent in advance for a corresponding period of time by estimating transmission latency caused by a distance, so that the uplink data arrives at a network device at a desired time point. In other words, N.sub.TA indicates a timing advance that is between an uplink and a downlink and that is determined by the terminal device based on a timing adjustment command sent by the network device).
Xu and Mao are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xu to include a timing advance based on timing adjustment as taught by Mao in order to improve small data transmission efficiency (Mao Para.[0005]).
Re claim 9:
Xu discloses the method of claim 1,wherein, i) based on one of the first time alignment timer and the second time alignment timer being expired and ii) based on other one of the first time alignment timer and the second time alignment timer being running: some of the operations for the maintenance of uplink time alignment are performed (Abstract The wireless device clears, in response to a first time alignment timer (TAT) of the first TAG being expired while a second TAT of the second TAG is running, the configured uplink grant with the first TCI state that is associated with the first TAG with the first TAT).
Re claim 10:
Xu discloses the method of claim 9, wherein, among the operations for the maintenance of uplink time alignment, the releasing PUCCH and the releasing SRS are not performed (Para.[0236] In an example, the wireless device may not consider (e.g., in a duration from time T3 to T4) the second TAT, associated with the second CORESET pool index, being expired in response to the first TAT being expired and Para.[0238] In an example, the wireless device may determine (e.g., in a duration from time T3 to T4) not to clear or release the downlink/uplink resources, associated with the second CORESET pool index, in response to the first TAT being expired – Examiner Note when the second TAT is not expired, the resources corresponding to the second TAT are not released).
Re claim 11:
Xu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first TAG and the second TAG are i) a first primary timing advance group (PTAG) and a second PTAG (Para.[0225] For example, in carrier aggregation scenario, a plurality of cells may be grouped into a primary cell group and a secondary cell group. The primary cell group may be associated with a primary TAG (pTAG). The secondary cell group may be associated with a secondary TAG (sTAG)).
Re claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1. Xu further discloses one or more transceivers; one or more processors; and one or more memories connected to the one or more processors, and storing instructions of configuring the one or more processors to perform operations based on being executed by the one or more processors (Fig. 15).
Re claim 18: Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the base station. Xu further discloses one or more transceivers; one or more processors; and one or more memories connected to the one or more processors, and storing instructions of configuring the one or more processors to perform operations based on being executed by the one or more processors (Fig. 15).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 20240414674) in view of Mao (US 20240357695) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Xu2 (US 20210160805).
Re claim 2:
As discussed above, Xu in view of Mao meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Xu further discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, to the base station, a random access preamble, (Para.[0167] The Msg 1 1311 may include and/or be referred to as a preamble (or a random access preamble)).
Xu does not explicitly disclose wherein, based on the first time alignment timer and the second time alignment timer not running, any uplink transmission except the random access preamble is not performed.
Xu2 discloses wherein, based on the first time alignment timer and the second time alignment timer not running, any uplink transmission except the random access preamble is not performed (Para.[0130] When the TAT timing expires, it indicates that the terminal device has no “valid TA value”, and the terminal device stops sending the uplink data, but may send the preamble – where Xu in view of Mao discloses based on a first and second timer).
Xu and Xu2 are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xu to include only performing preamble transmissions when a TAT is not running as taught by Xu2 in order to reduce delay and improve user experience (Xu2 Para.[0004]).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 20240414674) in view of Mao (US 20240357695) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fukui (US 20250247844).
Re claim 12:
As discussed above, Xu in view of Mao meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Xu does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 11, wherein, based on the first TAG and the second TAG being the first PTAG and the second PTAG, i) the flushing all HARQ buffers, ii) the releasing PUCCH, iii) the releasing SRS are performed for all serving cells.
Fukui discloses the method of claim 11, wherein, based on the first TAG and the second TAG being the first PTAG and the second PTAG, i) the flushing all HARQ buffers, ii) the releasing PUCCH, iii) the releasing SRS are performed for all serving cells (Para.[0333] The fourth processing may be processing in a case that the time alignment timer expires. In the fourth processing, in a case that the time alignment timer is associated with the PTAG (or the subTAG associated with the first TRP), the MAC entity may perform some or all of the first sub-operation to the seventh sub-operation. The first sub-operation may be to flush all HARQ buffers for all serving cells. The second sub-operation may be to notify the RRC of release of PUCCHs for all serving cells. The third sub-operation may be to notify the RRC of release of SRSs for all serving cells).
Xu and Fukui are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xu to include only performing preamble transmissions when a TAT is not running as taught by Fukui in order to improve management efficiency (FukuiPara.[0238]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Comsa (US 20240188015) teaches a first and second TAT, TAG, CORESET index, and TCI states.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD SAJID ADHAMI whose telephone number is (571)272-8615. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571) 272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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