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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/895,071 filed on 24 September 2024. This application is a CON of PCT/CN2023/083605 filed on 24 March 2023, and claims FOR priority to CN202210303774.6 filed on 24 March 2022. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2023/0262727 A1 to Zhu et al and in view of US PGPUB 2023/0379843 A1 to Go et al.
Regarding Claim 1, Zhu discloses a beam information indication method, comprising: receiving, by a terminal, a first command sent by a network side device, the first command being used to activate or indicate at least one unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state identifier (ID) (0244 and 0339 provides for receiving, by a UE, a carrier to indicate a unified TCI state); and determining, by the terminal, a unified TCI state of a channel or a reference signal in a component carrier (CC) group based on the unified TCI state ID (0244 and 0339 provides for determining a TCI state ID and a carrier corresponds to a component carrier). Zhu doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein a target unified TCI state ID in the at least one unified TCI state ID is associated with a target channel or a target reference signal in the CC group. Go, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein a target unified TCI state ID in the at least one unified TCI state ID is associated with a target channel or a target reference signal in the CC group (0373 and 0571 provides for wherein a unified TCI state ID is associated with a UL-TCI state configured to which the panel ID is expressed as a potential target). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Go for configuring a target channel. The target channel of Go, when implemented with the beam indication of the Zhu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to transmit beam information in order to target a channel in association with the TCI state. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the target channel of Go with the beam indication of the Zhu system for the desirable purpose of transmitting information to a target channel.
Regarding Claim 2, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal, a second command sent by the network side device, the second command being used to configure at least one TCI state pool for the terminal; and the TCI state pool comprising a unified TCI state corresponding to the unified TCI state ID (Zhu, 0487 provides for TCI state pool specification for a TCI state group), wherein each CC or each bandwidth part (BWP) in the CC group has a corresponding TCI state pool (Go, 0331 provides for BWP). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 3, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein if configuration information of a first CC or a first BWP in the CC group comprises first information, the first information is in a one-to-one correspondence with a TCI state pool corresponding to the first CC or the first BWP (Zhu, 0487 provides for TCI state pool is toggled from 0 to 1).
Regarding Claim 4, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the determining, by the terminal, a unified TCI state of a channel or a reference signal in a CC group based on the TCI state ID comprises: determining a unified TCI state of a target channel or a target reference signal corresponding to the target TCI state ID based on the target TCI state ID and a target TCI state pool in the at least one TCI state pool (Zhu, 0487 provides for TCI state pool is toggled from 0 to 1), or determining a unified TCI state of a target channel or a target reference signal corresponding to first information corresponding to the target TCI state ID based on the target TCI state ID and a target TCI state pool in the at least one TCI state pool.
Regarding Claim 5, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: determining the target TCI state pool based on a target CC or a target BWP at which the target channel or the target reference signal is located (Go, 0372-0373 provides for a target UL channel is linked to a UL-TCI state pool), or determining the target TCI state pool based on a target CC or a target BWP at which the target channel or the target reference signal is located, and the first information corresponding to the target channel or the target reference signal. Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 6, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein that a target unified TCI state ID in the at least one unified TCI state ID is associated with a target channel or a target reference signal in the CC group comprises that the target unified TCI state ID has a corresponding relationship with the target channel or the target reference signal (Go, 0372-0373 provides for a target UL channel is linked to a UL-TCI state pool), or the target unified TCI state ID has a corresponding relationship with first information, and the first information has a corresponding relationship with the target channel or the target reference signal. Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 7, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: a control resource set (CORESET) ID; a CORESET pool index; a CORESET group ID; an ID of interrelated search spaces (SSs); an ID of a CORESET at which interrelated SSs are located; transmission opportunity information on interrelated SSs; transmission time information on interrelated SSs; a transmission-reception point (TRP) ID; a channel group ID; a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource group ID; a physical cell identifier (PCI); or a terminal panel ID (Go, 0014 provides for a panel ID). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 8, the Zhu/Go system discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein a method for configuring the first information comprises one of the following: all CCs or all BWPs in the same CC group are configured with the same first information (G0, 0145 provides for a common resource block where the BWP starts relative to the common resource block); in the CC group, a first part of CCs or a first part of BWPs each are configured with one piece of first information, and a second part of CCs or a second part of BWPs each are configured with at least two pieces of first information; in the CC group, a first part of CCs or a first part of BWPs and a second part of CCs or a second part of BWPs each are configured with one piece of first information, and the first information that the first part of CCs or the first part of BWPs are configured with is different from the first information that the second part of CCs or the second part of BWPs are configured with; and in the CC group, a first part of CCs or a first part of BWPs and a second part of CCs or a second part of BWPs each are configured with at least two pieces of first information, and the first information that the first part of CCs or the first part of BWPs are configured with is at least partially different from the first information that the second part of CCs or the second part of BWPs are configured with. Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 9, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 1 teaches the method of claim 9.
Regarding Claim 10, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 2 teaches the method of claim 10.
Regarding Claim 11, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 3 teaches the method of claim 11.
Regarding Claim 12, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 4 teaches the method of claim 12.
Regarding Claim 13, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 5 teaches the method of claim 13.
Regarding Claim 14, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 6 teaches the method of claim 14.
Regarding Claim 15, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 7 teaches the method of claim 15.
Regarding Claim 16, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 8 teaches the method of claim 16.
Regarding Claim 17, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 1 teaches the terminal of claim 17.
Regarding Claim 18, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 2 teaches the terminal of claim 18.
Regarding Claim 19, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 3 teaches the terminal of claim 19.
Regarding Claim 20, similar rejection where the beam information indication method of claim 9 teaches the network side device of claim 20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2023/0123718 A1 to Farag et al discloses configuring a unified TCI state.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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