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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
1. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/16/2024, 11/03/2025 and 03/24/2026 has been considered by Examiner and made of record in the application file.
2. Claims 7, 9, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25-28 and 31 are canceled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
4. Claims 1-2, 10-11, 21-22 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (U.S PUB. 2022/0015039 hereinafter, “Huang”).
Consider claim 1, Huang teaches a method for controlling a power, performed by a terminal, comprising: receiving indication information, wherein the indication information indicates an output power corresponding to at least two antenna panels in the terminal during uplink transmission (page 9 [0243]-[0246]); and determining an output power corresponding to each of the at least two antenna panels that perform the uplink transmission simultaneously, based on the output power indicated by the indication information (pages 42-43 [0991]).
Consider claim 2, Huang further teaches wherein, the output power indicated by the indication information is a total output power corresponding to the at least two antenna panels (page 8 [0240]).
Consider claim 10, Huang further teaches wherein the indication information indicates that the total output power is determined based on at least two power control parameter sets; wherein the method further comprises: receiving the at least two power control parameter sets sent by a network device; and determining the total output power based on the at least two power control parameter sets (page 9 [0243]-[0246]).
Consider claim 11, Huang further teaches wherein determining the total output power based on the at least two power control parameter sets comprises: determining at least two candidate output powers corresponding to the at least two power control parameter sets (page 9 [0243]-[0246]); and determining the total output power by one of: determining a maximum power among the at least two candidate output powers (page 4 [0116]); determining a minimum value among the at least two candidate output powers; determining an average value of the at least two candidate output powers; or determining a sum of the at least two candidate output powers.
Consider claim 21, the subject-matter of independent claim 21 relates to a method for controlling a power with features fully corresponding to the characteristics of claim 1. Therefore, the same argumentation presented in relation to claim 1 is, mutatis mutandis, of application to claim 21.
Consider claim 22, Huang further teaches wherein, the output power indicated by the indication information is a total output power corresponding to the at least two antenna panels, wherein the indication information indicates that the total output power is determined based on at least two power control parameter sets; and the method further comprises: sending the at least two power control parameter sets (page 8 [0240]).
Consider claim 29, the subject-matter of independent claim 29 relates to a wireless device with features fully corresponding to the characteristics of claim 1. Therefore, the same argumentation presented in relation to claim 1 is, mutatis mutandis, of application to claim 29.
Consider claim 30, the subject-matter of independent claim 30 relates to a network device with features fully corresponding to the characteristics of claim 21. Therefore, the same argumentation presented in relation to claim 21 is, mutatis mutandis, of application to claim 30.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Intel Corporation ("On Unified TCI framework for multi-TRP", 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #109-e, R1-2204785, e- Meeting, May 9th - 20th, 2022, 15 pages, provided by the Applicant’s IDS filed on 11/03/2025, hereinafter, “Intel”).
Consider claim 12, Huang teaches all limitations of claim 1.
Huang does not explicitly show that wherein, the output power indicated by the indication information is at least two output powers corresponding to the at least two antenna panels, wherein an ith output power corresponds to an ith antenna panel.
In the same field of endeavor, Intel teaches wherein, the output power indicated by the indication information is at least two output powers corresponding to the at least two antenna panels, wherein an ith output power corresponds to an ith antenna panel (figs. 13-14, Section 4.1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to use, wherein, the output power indicated by the indication information is at least two output powers corresponding to the at least two antenna panels, wherein an ith output power corresponds to an ith antenna panel, as taught by Intel, in order for unified TCI extension to multi-TRP, simultaneous multi-panel UL transmission and Power control for UL single DCI.
Consider claim 13, Intel further teaches wherein, the terminal corresponds to a second output power upper limit PCMAX2, and the second output power upper limit PCMAX2is configured to limit a sum of at least two output powers of the at least two antenna panels (fig. 14, Section 4.2).
Consider claim 14, Intel further teaches wherein determining the output power corresponding to each of the at least two antenna panels during the uplink transmission based on an expected output power comprises: in a case that the sum of the at least two output powers is lower than or equal to the second output power upper limit PCMAX2, determining the ith output power among the at least two output powers as the output power corresponding to the ith antenna panel during the uplink transmission (fig. 14, Section 4.2).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 3-6, 8, 15, 17, 19 and 24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Consider claim 3, the prior arts made of record, alone or in combination, fail to clearly teach or fairly suggest wherein the terminal corresponds to a first output power upper limit; and determining the output power corresponding to each of the at least two antenna panels that perform the uplink transmission simultaneously based on the output power indicated by the indication information comprises: determining a minimum value between the first output power upper limit and the total output power as a target output power P; and allocating the target output power P to the at least two antenna panels as the output power corresponding to each antenna panel during the uplink transmission, in combination with other limitations, as specified in the claims 1-2, and further limitations of their respective dependent claims 4-6 and 8.
Consider claim 15, the prior arts made of record, alone or in combination, fail to clearly teach or fairly suggest wherein determining the output power corresponding to each of the at least two antenna panels during the uplink transmission based on an expected output power comprises: in a case that the sum of the at least two output powers is greater than the second output power upper limit PCMAX2, allocating the second output power upper limit PCMAX2 to the at least two antenna panels as the output power corresponding to each antenna panel during the uplink transmission, based on a ratio of a number of ports corresponding to each antenna panel to a total number of ports of the terminal, and a ratio of an expected power corresponding to each antenna panel to a total expected power for the at least two antenna panels, wherein the at least two antenna panels comprise a first antenna panel and a second antenna panel, wherein the first antenna panel comprises Ni ports and the second antenna panel comprises N2 ports, the total number of ports of the terminal is N, where N1, N2 and N are positive integers, a first expected power corresponding to the first antenna panel is P1, and a second expected power corresponding to the second antenna panel is P2,the total number of ports corresponds to a first weight a, and the total expected power corresponds to a second weight b, where 0≤a≤1, 0≤b≤1, and a + b = 1; a first output power allocated to the first antenna panel is (a (P1/P1+P2) + b (N1/N))PCMAX2
and a second output power allocated to the second antenna panel is (a (P2/P1+P2) + b (N2-/N))PCMAX2, in combination with other limitations, as specified in the claims 1 and 12-13.
Consider claim 17, the prior arts made of record, alone or in combination, fail to clearly teach or fairly suggest wherein, each of the at least two antenna panels corresponds to a third output power upper limit, wherein a jth antenna panel corresponds to a jth third output power upper limit, wherein determining the output power corresponding to each of the at least two antenna panels during the uplink transmission comprises: determining a minimum power between a lth output power and the jth third output power upper limit, as an output power corresponding to the jth antenna panel during the uplink transmission, in combination with other limitations, as specified in the claims 1 and 12.
Consider claim 19, the prior arts made of record, alone or in combination, fail to clearly teach or fairly suggest wherein the indication information indicates that the at least two output powers are determined based on at least two power control parameter sets; wherein the method further comprises: receiving the at least two power control parameter sets sent by a network device; determining a kth output power among the at least two output powers based on a kth power control parameter set among the at least two power control parameter sets, wherein receiving the at least two power control parameter sets sent by the network device comprises one of: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the RRC signaling comprises the at least two power control parameter sets; receiving a media access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, wherein the MAC CE signaling comprises the at least two power control parameter sets; or receiving a downlink control information (DCI) signaling, wherein the DCI signaling comprises the at least two power control parameter sets, in combination with other limitations, as specified in the claims 1 and 12.
Consider claim 24, the prior arts made of record, alone or in combination, fail to clearly teach or fairly suggest wherein the output power indicated by the indication information is at least two output powers corresponding to the at least two antenna panels, wherein an ith output power corresponds to an ith antenna panel, wherein the indication information indicates that the at least two output powers are determined based on the at least two sets of power control parameters; and the method further comprises: sending the at least two power control parameter sets; wherein sending the at least two power control parameter sets comprises one of: sending a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the RRC signaling comprises the at least two power control parameter sets; sending a media access control control unit (MAC CE) signaling, wherein the MAC CE signaling comprises the at least two power control parameter sets; or sending a downlink control information (DCI) signaling, wherein the DCI signaling comprises the at least two power control parameter sets, in combination with other limitations, as specified in the independent claim 21.
Conclusion
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tuan H. Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 272-8329. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00Am - 5:00Pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pan Yuwen can be reached on (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/TUAN H NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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