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 .
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-10, 13-17, 19-23, and 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHAHMOHAMMADIAN et al. (Patent No: US 2022/0116256 A1), hereinafter, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN, in view of NOH et al. (Patent No: US 2021/0014931 A1), hereinafter, NOH.
Regarding Claim 1, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN teaches,
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: -Fig. 3; Paragraph [0073] ([0073] recites, “As depicted in FIG. 3, the UE 116 may include one or more antennas 301, an RF transceiver 302, TX processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and RX processing circuitry 305. The UE 116 may also include a speaker 360, a processor 307, an input/output (I/O) interface (IF) 308, a touchscreen 309 (or other input device), a display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 may include an OS 312 and one or more applications 313. The TX processing circuitry 303 may include a controller/processor that is not shown and that may be configured to control the TX processing circuitry 303 to perform transmission-related functionality as disclosed herein. Alternatively, the processor 307 may be configured to control the TX processing circuitry 303 to perform transmission-related functionality as disclosed herein.”)
receive, from the network node Paragraph [0210] ([0210] recites, “An HST-SFN transmission may be a coherent joint transmission that employs only one PDCCH to allocate one set of PDSCH resources. That is, the same PDCCH may be transmitted from multiple TRPs simultaneously. From a UE perspective, an extra downlink transmission may be interpreted as an additional downlink delay-spread component originated from a single TRP. Having PDCCH with two TCI states in an HST scenario may mean that a CORESET in Rel-17 may be configured with two TCI states. The default beam and RS specification in HST scenario may follow Rel-16 behavior using the TCI state of PDCCH transmitted from the reference TRP. The reference TRP may be the TRP that is being used by a gNB as the reference for frequency offset compensation in TRP-based frequency offset precompensation scheme. This may make the reference TRP as the primary TRP especially in the case of beam-failure events. The reference TRP may be semi-statically indicated with a certain TCI state to UE and the default TCI state may be selected from the CORESET having the lowest ID that has a TCI state associated to the reference TRP. Another approach may be that one of the TCI states in the CORESET may be semi-statically indicated to the UE as a reference TCI state or it may be specified to always consider a predetermined TCI state (i.e., the first or the second) in each CORSET as the reference TCI state. That reference TCI state may then be used as the default TCI state to determine default beam and RS.”)
receive, based on the indication and from at least the portion of the multiple TRPs, one or more downlink reference signals; and derive, based on the one or more downlink reference signals, a power delay profile (PDP) or Doppler spectrum for channel estimation for at least a portion of the one or more TCI states. -Paragraph [0003, 0104] ([0003] recites, “Transmit and Receive Points (TRPs) requires additional Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) and Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources dedicated for SFN transmission to derive Quasi Co-Located (QCL) properties, which uses a large overhead of resource configuration. Additionally, in current HST scenarios with SFN transmission, TRS and the corresponding Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) ports may experience a composite channel for a major path from each TRP, which may necessitate a very high User Equipment (UE) complexity. Further still, a high mobility of a UE in an HST environment may result in a negative Doppler offset moving away from one TRP and a positive Doppler offset moving towards another TRP and each TRP uses independent local oscillators so the Doppler offsets may be based on different base frequencies. Thus, in a HST-SFN scenario, a UE may require a very high complexity to be able to accurately estimate different Doppler shifts that are significantly different based on a composited TRS and, as a result, may use a Wiener filter on the estimated Doppler shifts in order to improve channel estimation performance.” [0104] recites, “TRS and the corresponding DMRS port(s) in a SFN transmission may experience a composite channel representing a major path for each TRP. In order to perform DMRS channel estimation, a UE first estimates large-scale profiles, such as Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay and delay spread. With a single QCL reference RS, i.e., if TRS and DMRS are QCLed with a single Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state containing a composite channel of TRPs, a UE may likely need to be of a very high complexity to be able to accurately estimate significantly different Doppler shifts based on a composited TRS. Such a complex UE then may employs a Wiener filter on the estimated Doppler shifts to improve channel-estimation performance. With multiple QCL reference RSs for the same DMRS port(s) while each QCL reference RS corresponds to a particular TRP (TRP-specific), a UE does not need to estimate and track multiple Doppler shifts from a single composited TRS”)
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
transmit, to a network node, a user equipment (UE) capability indicating a maximum number of active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states supported for coherent joint transmission (CJT) from multiple transmission reception points (TRPs);
However, in an analogous invention, NOH teaches,
transmit, to a network node, a user equipment (UE) capability indicating a maximum number of active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states supported for coherent joint transmission (CJT) from multiple transmission reception points (TRPs); -Paragraph [0217, 0242, 0250, 0258] ([0217] recites, “..the UE transfers a UE capability information message including the UE capability to the BS. Based on the UE capability received from the UE, the BS may perform appropriate scheduling and transmission/reception management on the UE.” [0242] recites, “The UE may support data in a C-JT or NC-JT manner, the data being transmitted from multiple TRPs or a plurality off BSs. The UE that supports C-JT/NC-JT may receive C-JT/NC-JT related parameters or setting values via upper layer configuration, and based on the same, the UE may set an RRC parameter of the UE. For the upper layer configuration, the UE may use UE capability parameter tci-StatePDSCH. In this regard, the UE capability parameter tci-StatePDSCH defines TCI states to transmit a PDSCH. The number of TCI states may be configured to be 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 in FR1, and 64 and 128 in FR2…..largest value of 128 corresponds to a value indicated by maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC in a tci-StatePDSCH parameter included in UE capability signaling.” [0250] recites, “The number of TCI states to be activated in response to MAC CE messages of NR Rel-15 specification and NR Rel-16 specification may be configured based on a UE capability value reported by the UE.” [0258] recites, “..at least one TCI states group for C-JT/NC-JT from among the M TCI states may be configured as a MAC CE”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “transmit, to a network node, a user equipment (UE) capability indicating a maximum number of active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states supported for coherent joint transmission (CJT) from multiple transmission reception points (TRPs);” of NOH. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve system networks of 5G communication [0003].
Regarding Claim 2, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is received in downlink control information (DCI), media access control (MAC)-control element (CE) signaling, or radio resource configuration (RRC) signaling. -Paragraph [0172, 0203] ([0172] recites, “This may be done with an explicit RRC configuration of two PTRS ports for Rel-17 SFN scheme that may be activated through DCI. The number of PTRS ports may be implicitly indicated by TCI codepoint in DCI. With enhanced TCI states activation/deactivation MAC CE structure, each codepoint of a TCI field in DCI for a UE-specific PDSCH may be mapped to up to two TCI states. With this structure, if Ci=0 (i.e., a TCI codepoint in DCI indicates a TCI state ID that only has one mapped TCI state), a PDSCH transmission may be a single TRP with one port PTRS, and if Ci=1 (i.e., a TCI codepoint in DCI indicates a TCI state ID that has two mapped TCI states), a PDSCH transmission may be a Rel-17 SFN scheme with two PTRS ports. Alternatively, the signaling of two PTRS ports may be done through a MAC CE activation.” [0203] recites, “Each TCI state may additionally be associated with a TRP through a TRP index 1 or 2. Each CORESET may be associated with one or two TCI states. In particular, a MAC-CE activates either a single TCI state or a pair of TCI states (TCI state #1, TCI state #2). A gNB may configure a UE via a RRC with a reference TRP index t.sub.ref∈{1,2} for default beam determination.”)
Regarding Claim 3, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication includes one TCI state for at least the portion of the multiple TRPs including two or more TRPs from the multiple TRPs. -Paragraph [0203-0204] ([0203] recites, “Each TCI state may additionally be associated with a TRP through a TRP index 1 or 2. Each CORESET may be associated with one or two TCI states. In particular, a MAC-CE activates either a single TCI state or a pair of TCI states (TCI state #1, TCI state #2). A gNB may configure a UE via a RRC with a reference TRP index t.sub.ref∈{1,2} for default beam determination…..”)
Regarding Claim 4, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 3.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the one TCI state is quasi co-located with the downlink reference signals from each TRP in the portion of the multiple TRPs. -Paragraph [0104, 0212] ([0104] recites, “Additionally, TRS and the corresponding DMRS port(s) in a SFN transmission may experience a composite channel representing a major path for each TRP. In order to perform DMRS channel estimation, a UE first estimates large-scale profiles, such as Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay and delay spread. With a single QCL reference RS, i.e., if TRS and DMRS are QCLed with a single Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state containing a composite channel of TRPs, a UE may likely need to be of a very high complexity to be able to accurately estimate significantly different Doppler shifts based on a composited TRS…..”)
Regarding Claim 6, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to receive, from the network node and based on the maximum number of TCI states, a TCI state configuration specifying one TCI state for each TRP in a portion of the multiple TRPs including the one or more TCI states. -Paragraph [0203] ([0203] recites, “Each TCI state may additionally be associated with a TRP through a TRP index 1 or 2. Each CORESET may be associated with one or two TCI states. In particular, a MAC-CE activates either a single TCI state or a pair of TCI states (TCI state #1, TCI state #2). A gNB may configure a UE via a RRC with a reference TRP index t.sub.ref∈{1,2} for default beam determination. A UE determines the default TCI state from CORESETs having a TCI state associated to the reference TRP index t.sub.ref. Among the CORESETs that include a TCI states associated with the reference TRP index, a CORSET having the lowest ID is selected.”)
Regarding Claim 7, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 6.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim6, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform a tracking loop operation for the one TCI state for each TRP. -Paragraph [0004, 0170] ([0004] recites, “…the receiver may be further configured to receive a Physical Download Control Channel (PDCCH) DMRS associated with two TCI states from the first TRP and the second TRP, and in which the receiver may determine a TCI state of a PDSCH DMRS scheduled by the PDCCH as one of the two TCI states. In one embodiment, the receiver may be further configured to receive a fifth reference signal sent over the wireless network from the first TRP and the second TRP in which the fifth reference signal may include a two-port Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) in which a first port of the two-port PTRS may convey phase tracking information for the first TRP and a second port of the two port PTRS may convey phase-tracking information for the second TRP. … the receiver may be further configured to receive a control message sent over the wireless network from the first TRP to dynamically update a configuration of one of the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and the receiver may determine information based on the control message for at least a periodicity of one of the first reference signal and the second reference signal based on a change of movement of the device with respect to the first TRP.” [0170] recites, “…two port PTRS may be supported to provide accurate phase tracking at a UE in which each PTRS port corresponds to one TCI state.”)
Regarding Claim 8, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 6.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the indication of one or more TCI states includes an indication of multiple TCI states each corresponding to one of at least the portion of the multiple TRPs selected for CJT transmission -Paragraph [0203, 0210] ([0210] recites, “coherent joint transmission that employs only one PDCCH to allocate one set of PDSCH resources. That is, the same PDCCH may be transmitted from multiple TRPs simultaneously. From a UE perspective, an extra downlink transmission may be interpreted as an additional downlink delay-spread component originated from a single TRP. Having PDCCH with two TCI states in an HST scenario may mean that a CORESET in Rel-17 may be configured with two TCI states….” [0203] recites, “Each TCI state may additionally be associated with a TRP through a TRP index 1 or 2. Each CORESET may be associated with one or two TCI states. In particular, a MAC-CE activates either a single TCI state or a pair of TCI states (TCI state #1, TCI state #2). A gNB may configure a UE via a RRC with a reference TRP index t.sub.ref∈{1,2} for default beam determination.”)
and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to derive a combined PDP or Doppler spectrum for reception of a downlink data signal from at least the portion of the multiple TRPs that are selected for CJT transmission at least in part by combining a derived PDP or Doppler spectrum for each of the multiple TCI states. -Paragraph [0104] ([0104] recites, “TRS and the corresponding DMRS port(s) in a SFN transmission may experience a composite channel representing a major path for each TRP. In order to perform DMRS channel estimation, a UE first estimates large-scale profiles, such as Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay and delay spread. With a single QCL reference RS, i.e., if TRS and DMRS are QCLed with a single Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state containing a composite channel of TRPs, a UE may likely need to be of a very high complexity to be able to accurately estimate significantly different Doppler shifts based on a composited TRS. Such a complex UE then may employs a Wiener filter on the estimated Doppler shifts to improve channel-estimation performance…”)
Regarding Claim 9, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to receive, from the network node and based on the maximum number of TCI states, a TCI state configuration specifying multiple TCI states including the one or more TCI states, wherein the one or more TCI states includes one TCI state for a group of TRPs including one or more TRPs from the multiple TRPs.
However, in an analogous invention, NOH teaches,
The apparatus of claim1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to receive, from the network node and based on the maximum number of TCI states, -Paragraph [0242, 0250]( [0242] recites, “The UE may support data in a C-JT or NC-JT manner, the data being transmitted from multiple TRPs or a plurality off BSs. The UE that supports C-JT/NC-JT may receive C-JT/NC-JT related parameters or setting values via upper layer configuration, and based on the same, the UE may set an RRC parameter of the UE. For the upper layer configuration, the UE may use UE capability parameter tci-StatePDSCH. In this regard, the UE capability parameter tci-StatePDSCH defines TCI states to transmit a PDSCH. The number of TCI states may be configured to be 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 in FR1, and 64 and 128 in FR2…..largest value of 128 corresponds to a value indicated by maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC in a tci-StatePDSCH parameter included in UE capability signaling.” [0250] recites, “The number of TCI states to be activated in response to MAC CE messages of NR Rel-15 specification and NR Rel-16 specification may be configured based on a UE capability value reported by the UE.”)
a TCI state configuration specifying multiple TCI states including the one or more TCI states, wherein the one or more TCI states includes one TCI state for a group of TRPs including one or more TRPs from the multiple TRPs. -Paragraph [0289]([0289] recites, “one code point may be mapped to two or more TCI states or TCI state groups. In Table 16, 8 TCI states pairs indicated by the first TRP and the second TRP are selected and each of the selection is mapped. The BS may set indexing of a beamforming direction associated with DL RS is K1 at the first TRP and indexing of a beamforming direction associated with DL RS is M1 at the second TRP, and may configure them as one pair of (K1, M1). For example, the BS may indicate TCI states by mapping a pair of TCI states (K1, M1) to TCI code point 000.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “receive, from the network node and based on the maximum number of TCI states, a TCI state configuration specifying multiple TCI states including the one or more TCI states, wherein the one or more TCI states includes one TCI state for a group of TRPs including one or more TRPs from the multiple TRPs.” of NOH. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve system networks of 5G communication [0003].
Regarding Claim 10, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 9.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the multiple TCI states include at least one other TCI state for another group of TRPs including one or more other TRPs from the multiple TRPs. -Paragraph [0203] ([0203] recites, “Each TCI state may additionally be associated with a TRP through a TRP index 1 or 2. Each CORESET may be associated with one or two TCI states. In particular, a MAC-CE activates either a single TCI state or a pair of TCI states (TCI state #1, TCI state #2). A gNB may configure a UE via a RRC with a reference TRP index t.sub.ref∈{1,2} for default beam determination….”)
Regarding Claim 13, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the maximum number of TCI states is less than a maximum number of TRPs for CJT transmission indicated in a different UE capability.
However, in an analogous invention, NOH teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the maximum number of TCI states is less than a maximum number of TRPs for CJT transmission indicated in a different UE capability. -Paragraph [0247, 0252] ([0247] recites, “In a case where the BS or the UE increases the number of TCI states supported by NR Rel-15 specification in proportion to the number of BSs/TRPs that operate in C-JT/NC-JT in NR Rel-16 specification, when two TRPs operate, maximum 256 TCI states may be configured…” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that the above recitation indicates the number of TRPs supported in a capability message is a straightforward design measure and does not involve any inventive step.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “the maximum number of TCI states is less than a maximum number of TRPs for CJT transmission indicated in a different UE capability.” of NOH. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve system networks of 5G communication [0003].
Regarding Claim 14, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UE capability also indicates a maximum number of supported TCI state combinations supported for CJT, and wherein the configuration is further based on the maximum number of supported TCI state combinations.
However, in an analogous invention, NOH teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UE capability also indicates a maximum number of supported TCI state combinations supported for CJT, and wherein the configuration is further based on the maximum number of supported TCI state combinations. -Paragraph [0279] ([0279] recites, “maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC in a tci-StatePDSCH parameter included in UE capability signaling. The number of maxNumberConfigured-TCIstatesPerCC in C-JT/NC-JT transmission at a single TRP or multiple TRPs may be increased in proportion to the number of C-JT/NC-JT supported by the UE…..in a case where the UE performs transmission or reception based on C-JT/NC-JT at two TRPs, it may be determined that the maximum number of TCI-States of the first TRP is 64 or 128, and the maximum number of TCI-States of the second TRP is 64 or 128, such that maxNumberConfigured-TCIstatesPerCC may be determined to be 128 or 256.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “the UE capability also indicates a maximum number of supported TCI state combinations supported for CJT, and wherein the configuration is further based on the maximum number of supported TCI state combinations” of NOH. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve system networks of 5G communication [0003].
Regarding Claim 15, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 14.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the UE capability also indicates one or more tuples of number of TCI states and maximum supported number of TCI state combinations with the number of TCI states, and wherein the configuration is based on the one or more tuples.
However, in an analogous invention, NOH teaches,
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the UE capability also indicates one or more tuples of number of TCI states and maximum supported number of TCI state combinations with the number of TCI states, and wherein the configuration is based on the one or more tuples. -Table 14; Paragraph [0248] ([0248] recites, “The capability signalling comprises the following parameters: maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC indicates the maximum number of configured TCI-states per CC for PDSCH. For FR2, the UE is mandated to set the value to 128. For FR1, the UE is mandated to set these values to the maximum number of allowed SSBs in the supported band; maxNumberActiveTCI-PerBWP indicates the maximum number of activated TCI- states per BWP per CC, including control and data. If a UE reports X active TCI state(s), it is not expected that more than X active QCL type D assumption(s) for any PDSCH and any CORESETs for a given BWP of a serving cell become active for the UE. Note the UE is required to track only the active TCI states.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “the UE capability also indicates one or more tuples of number of TCI states and maximum supported number of TCI state combinations with the number of TCI states, and wherein the configuration is based on the one or more tuples” of NOH. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve system networks of 5G communication [0003].
Regarding Claim 16, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to report, to the network node, a first indication of at least one of the one or more TCI states associated with one of the one or more downlink reference signals having a PDP spread or Doppler spread that achieves a threshold. -Paragraph [0250-0251, 0122] ([0250-0251] recites, “ if the offset between the reception of the DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than the threshold timeDurationForQCL and at least one configured TCI state for the serving cell of scheduled PDSCH contains qcl-Type set to ‘typeD’, the UE may assume that the DM-RS ports of PDSCH of a serving cell are quasi co-located with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) used for PDCCH quasi co-location indication of the CORESET associated with a monitored search space with the lowest controlResourceSetId in the latest slot in which one or more CORESETs within the active BWP of the serving cell are monitored by the UE…”[0122] recites, “ One embodiment of network frequency-offset precompensation provides explicit UE reporting. For this embodiment, a UE may explicitly report the different Doppler shifts measured for each TRP as part of a CSI reporting to a gNB. With a TPR-manner TRS/CSI RS transmission, large-scale profile measurement, including Doppler shift and Doppler spread, may be performed independently for each TRP.” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that reporting may be configured if the doppler spread exceeds a threshold)
Regarding Claim 17, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to report, to the network node, an indication of pairs of TCI states associated with pairs of downlink reference signals having a difference in PDP spread or Doppler spread that achieves a threshold. -Paragraph [0004-0005, 0122] ([0004] recites, “ a receiver configured to receive a first reference signal and a second reference signal sent over a wireless network from a first TRP in which the first reference signal corresponds to a quasi-colocation reference signal (QCL RS) of the second reference signal, and the receiver may be further configured to determine delay-spread and average-delay information for a path between the first TRP to the device based on the first reference signal. In one embodiment, the first reference signal may be a TRS, and the second reference signal may be a Physical Download Shared Channel (PDSCH) DMRS… In yet another embodiment, the receiver may be further configured to receive a third reference signal from a second TRP in which the third reference signal may include Doppler-shift and Doppler-spread information, and may correspond to a QCL RS of a fourth reference signal transmitted from the second TRP or may correspond to the second reference signal transmitted in a SFN manner from the first TRP… In one embodiment, the second reference signal may be associated with two Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states corresponding to the first reference signal and the third reference signal. In another embodiment, the receiver may be further configured to receive a Physical Download Control Channel (PDCCH) DMRS associated with two TCI states from the first TRP and the second TRP, and in which the receiver may determine a TCI state of a PDSCH DMRS scheduled by the PDCCH as one of the two TCI states…. In yet another embodiment, the receiver may be further configured to receive a control message sent over the wireless network from the first TRP in which the control message may dynamically update quasi-colocation information of one of the first reference signal and the second reference signal, and the receiver may determine information based on the control message for at least one of Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, and spatial receiver parameters based on a change of movement of the device with respect to the first TRP.” [0122] recites, “ One embodiment of network frequency-offset precompensation provides explicit UE reporting. For this embodiment, a UE may explicitly report the different Doppler shifts measured for each TRP as part of a CSI reporting to a gNB. With a TPR-manner TRS/CSI RS transmission, large-scale profile measurement, including Doppler shift and Doppler spread, may be performed independently for each TRP.” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that reporting may be configured when the difference in doppler spread achieves a threshold and send the pair of TCI states associated with the difference in the report)
Claim 19 is similar to Claim 1 except Claim 19 is viewed from network perspective (i.e., transmit to the UE), while Claim 1 is viewed from UE perspective (i.e., receive from network node). The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 1 above which is rejected. Claim 19 is rejected under the same rational as claim 1.
Claim 20 is essentially the same as Claim 2 viewed from network side instead of UE side as in Claim 2. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 2 above which is rejected. Claim 20 is rejected under the same rational as claim 2.
Claim 21 is essentially the same as Claim 3, except claim 21 is derived from Claim 19, while claim 3 is derived from Claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 3 above which is rejected. Claim 20 is rejected under the same rational as claim 2.
Claim 22 is essentially the same as Claim 4, except claim 22 is derived from Claim 21, while claim 4 is derived from Claim 3. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 4 above which is rejected. Claim 22 is rejected under the same rational as claim 4.
Regarding Claim 23, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 22.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to transmit the one or more downlink reference signals from each TRP in the portion of multiple TRPs in a single frequency network (SFN) manner. -Paragraph [0004] ([0004] recites, “An example embodiment provides a device that may include a receiver configured to receive a first reference signal and a second reference signal sent over a wireless network from a first TRP in which the first reference signal corresponds to a quasi-colocation reference signal (QCL RS) of the second reference signal, and the receiver may be further configured to determine delay-spread and average-delay information for a path between the first TRP to the device based on the first reference signal. In one embodiment, the first reference signal may be a TRS, and the second reference signal may be a Physical Download Shared Channel (PDSCH) DMRS. In another embodiment, the first reference signal may be one of a TRS and a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), and the second reference signal may be a TRS. In yet another embodiment, the receiver may be further configured to receive a third reference signal from a second TRP in which the third reference signal may include Doppler-shift and Doppler-spread information, and may correspond to a QCL RS of a fourth reference signal transmitted from the second TRP or may correspond to the second reference signal transmitted in a SFN manner from the first TRP.”)
Claim 25 is essentially the same as Claim 6, except claim 25 is derived from Claim 19, while claim 6 is derived from Claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 6 above which is rejected. Claim 25 is rejected under the same rational as claim 6.
Claim 26 is essentially the same as Claim 9, except claim 26 is derived from Claim 19, while claim 9 is derived from Claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 9 above which is rejected. Claim 26 is rejected under the same rational as claim 9.
Claim 27 is the method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 1. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 1 above, which is rejected. Claim 27 is rejected under the same rational as claim 1.
Claim 28 is the method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 2. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 2 above, which is rejected. Claim 28 is rejected under the same rational as claim 2.
Claim 29 is the method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 19. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 19 above, which is rejected. Claim 29 is rejected under the same rational as claim 19.
Claim 30 is the method claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 20. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 20 above, which is rejected. Claim 30 is rejected under the same rational as claim 20.
Claims 5, 11-12, 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHAHMOHAMMADIAN, in view of NOH and further in view of Khoshnevisan et al. (Patent No: US 2020/0092860 A1), hereinafter, Khoshnevisan.
Regarding Claim 5, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 3.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim3,wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to receive from the network node and based on the maximum number of TCI states, a TCI state configuration specifying a pool of TCI states each associated with a combination of at least a portion of the multiple TRPs, wherein the indication of the one or more TCI states corresponds to the TCI state configuration.
However, in an analogous invention, Khoshnevisan teaches,
The apparatus of claim3,wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to receive from the network node and based on the maximum number of TCI states, a TCI state configuration specifying a pool of TCI states each associated with a combination of at least a portion of the multiple TRPs, wherein the indication of the one or more TCI states corresponds to the TCI state configuration. -Paragraph [0042-0043] ([0042-0043] recites, “one or more network devices (e.g., TRPs) may transmit a PDCCH to a UE. The PDCCH may contain a downlink control information (DCI) that specifies (e.g., contains) a transmission control indicator (TCI) field. In the case of a single TCI state (e.g., single-TRP or single-panel PDSCH transmission), the TCI field in the DCI indicates a single TCI state. In some cases (e.g., multi-TRP and/or multi-panel PDSCH transmission), the TCI field in the DCI may indicate multiple TCI states including multiple reference signal (RS) sets which are linked by a QCL relationship to a corresponding number of PDSCH demodulation RS (DM-RS) port groups…. the UE may derive the default receiver timing from a TCI state configuration for the PDCCH. For example, the TCI state configuration for PDCCH may be a default TCI state used for PDCCH QCL indication of a particular control resource set (CORESET) identifier (ID) (e.g., the lowest CORESET ID)….”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “a TCI state configuration specifying a pool of TCI states each associated with a combination of at least a portion of the multiple TRPs, wherein the indication of the one or more TCI states corresponds to the TCI state configuration” of Khoshnevisan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0070].
Regarding Claim 11, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 9.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one TCI state for at least one group of TRPs is quasi co-located with the downlink reference signals from each TRP in the at least one group of TRPs.
However, in an analogous invention, Khoshnevisan teaches,
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one TCI state for at least one group of TRPs is quasi co-located with the downlink reference signals from each TRP in the at least one group of TRPs. -Paragraph [0042] ([0042] recites, “In some cases (e.g., multi-TRP and/or multi-panel PDSCH transmission), the TCI field in the DCI may indicate multiple TCI states including multiple reference signal (RS) sets which are linked by a QCL relationship to a corresponding number of PDSCH demodulation RS (DM-RS) port groups. “)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “one TCI state for at least one group of TRPs is quasi co-located with the downlink reference signals from each TRP in the at least one group of TRPs.” of Khoshnevisan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0070].
Regarding Claim 12, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 9.
SHAHMOHAMMADIAN further teaches,
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the indication of one or more TCI states includes an indication of at least a portion of the multiple TCI states including and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to derive a combined PDP or Doppler spectrum for reception of a downlink data signal from at least the portion of the multiple TRPs that are selected for CJT transmission at least in part by combining a derived PDP or Doppler spectrum for each of the multiple TCI states including the one TCI state for the at least one group of TRPs. -Paragraph [0003, 0104, 0210] ([0210] recites, “An HST-SFN transmission may be a coherent joint transmission that employs only one PDCCH to allocate one set of PDSCH resources. That is, the same PDCCH may be transmitted from multiple TRPs simultaneously. From a UE perspective, an extra downlink transmission may be interpreted as an additional downlink delay-spread component originated from a single TRP. Having PDCCH with two TCI states in an HST scenario may mean that a CORESET in Rel-17 may be configured with two TCI states….” [0003] recites, “Transmit and Receive Points (TRPs) requires additional Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) and Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources dedicated for SFN transmission to derive Quasi Co-Located (QCL) properties, which uses a large overhead of resource configuration. Additionally, in current HST scenarios with SFN transmission, TRS and the corresponding Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) ports may experience a composite channel for a major path from each TRP, which may necessitate a very high User Equipment (UE) complexity. Further still, a high mobility of a UE in an HST environment may result in a negative Doppler offset moving away from one TRP and a positive Doppler offset moving towards another TRP and each TRP uses independent local oscillators so the Doppler offsets may be based on different base frequencies. Thus, in a HST-SFN scenario, a UE may require a very high complexity to be able to accurately estimate different Doppler shifts that are significantly different based on a composited TRS and, as a result, may use a Wiener filter on the estimated Doppler shifts in order to improve channel estimation performance.” [0104] recites, “TRS and the corresponding DMRS port(s) in a SFN transmission may experience a composite channel representing a major path for each TRP. In order to perform DMRS channel estimation, a UE first estimates large-scale profiles, such as Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay and delay spread. With a single QCL reference RS, i.e., if TRS and DMRS are QCLed with a single Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state containing a composite channel of TRPs, a UE may likely need to be of a very high complexity to be able to accurately estimate significantly different Doppler shifts based on a composited TRS. Such a complex UE then may employs a Wiener filter on the estimated Doppler shifts to improve channel-estimation performance. With multiple QCL reference RSs for the same DMRS port(s) while each QCL reference RS corresponds to a particular TRP (TRP-specific), a UE does not need to estimate and track multiple Doppler shifts from a single composited TRS”)
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
the one TCI state for the group of TRPs
However, in an analogous invention, Khoshnevisan teaches,
the one TCI state for the group of TRPs -Paragraph [0090] ([0090] recites, “In some cases, (e.g., in multi-TRP PDCCH transmissions), a DM-RS port group of TRP 105-d may be considered a first DM-RS port group and a DM-RS port group of the other TRP 105-e may be considered a second DM-RS port group. As such, a single TCI state may contain a pair of QCL relations (e.g., a first RS set associated with the first port group and a second RS set associated with the second port group).”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “the one TCI state for the group of TRPs” of Khoshnevisan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0070].
Claim 24 is essentially the same as Claim 5, except claim 24 is derived from Claim 21, while claim 5 is derived from Claim 3. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards claim 5 above which is rejected. Claim 24 is rejected under the same rational as claim 5.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHAHMOHAMMADIAN, in view of NOH and further in view of Zeineddine et al. (Patent No: US 2023/0189262 A1), hereinafter, Zeineddine.
Regarding Claim 18, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN and NOH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
Although implicit, SHAHMOHAMMADIAN does not explicitly mention,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit, to the network node, channel state information (CSI) feedback for the one or more TCI states; and deprioritize the CSI feedback for a portion of multiple TCI states associated with one of the one or more downlink reference signals having a difference in PDP spread or Doppler spread that achieves a threshold.
However, in an analogous invention, Zeineddin teaches,
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit, to the network node, channel state information (CSI) feedback for the one or more TCI states; -Paragraph [0176-0177] ([0176-0177] recites, “The downlink scheduling DCI indicates a two TCI state codepoint and a single RV. The two TCI states have the two TRSs as their source RSs…. In some of embodiments, the transmissions from RRH1 and RRH2 may be precoded independently i.e., the precoders may be different. In some examples, the DMRS is precoded using the same precoder as that used for a PDSCH transmission. In some examples, the precoder is determined based on CSI feedback from the UE. The CSI feedback may comprise CSI for RRH1, CSI for RRH2 or both.”)
and deprioritize the CSI feedback for a portion of multiple TCI states associated with one of the one or more downlink reference signals having a difference in PDP spread or Doppler spread that achieves a threshold. -Paragraph [0077] ([0077] recites, “In the time a UE can be configured with two TRSs, one from TRP A and one from TRP B, the TCI state would point to only one of them. Due to the Doppler spread, inter-carrier interference as well as poor channel estimation, would degrade performance.” The frequency of CSI feedback and conditions are configurations and not a feature. It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that when the doppler spread meets a threshold that estimation is unreliable, it can be configured to deprioritize CSI feedback corresponding to the TCI state)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “ENHANCEMENTS TO SUPPORT HST-SFN DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO” proposed by SHAHMOHAMMADIAN to include the concept of “transmit, to the network node, channel state information (CSI) feedback for the one or more TCI states;” of Zeineddine. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate determining precoder [0177].
Conclusion
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
