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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 12 and 18 recite “a first TA” and then “a TA”. It is not clear if these are the same or different TAs. All dependent claims are also rejected for the same reason.
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, 6, 8, 9, 12, 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guan et al. (US 2021/0168714, hereinafter “Guan”) in view of Yuan et al. (US 2024/0172125, hereinafter “Yuan’125”).
For claims 1 and 12, Guan discloses A method for indicating timing advances (TAs), applicable to a terminal device, the method comprising:
receiving downlink signaling (The network device sends first resource configuration information to the terminal device. The first resource configuration information is used to configure one or more reference signal resource sets, and each reference signal resource set is associated with one antenna panel (for example, an antenna panel ID); see Guan par. 0164), wherein the downlink signaling at least carries a first association parameter (the network device may associate one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states of the terminal device with one or more antenna panels of the terminal device; see Guan par. 0172), the first association parameter having an association relationship with a first TA (The network device may configure related timing advance information for an antenna panel of the terminal device; see Guan par. 0236), and the first association parameter corresponding to a first spatial filter (the network device may configure a timing advance for each uplink beam indicator (for example, an SRS or an SRS resource set) of the terminal device; see Guan par. 0240; if one antenna panel can be used to send one or more possible beams, to implement more accurate TA control, a beam-level TA or TA offset may be further introduced. ATA offset of each beam is a TA value relative to an antenna panel in which the beam is located; see Guan par. 0256); and
updating a TA of the first spatial filter based on the downlink signaling (the network device may deliver timing advance adjustment information of a plurality of TAGs or antenna panels by using one piece of signaling (for example, a MAC-CE message or DCI). For example, the MAC-CE message is used as an example. The MAC-CE includes a TAG-ID, and may further include several groups of bit values. Each group of bit values corresponds to a timing advance adjustment amount of an antenna panel that is in a TAG corresponding to the TAG-ID; see Guan par. 0248; the terminal device may directly replace an existing timing advance with the absolute adjustment amount. Alternatively, the timing advance adjustment amount may be a relative adjustment amount. In other words, the relative adjustment amount represents that, on a basis of an existing timing advance, the terminal device increases or decreases the relative adjustment amount. Optionally, the timing advance adjustment amount in this embodiment of this application may be quantized, and quantization resolution may be related to a subcarrier spacing; see Guan par. 0249).
Guan does not explicitly disclose an association parameter. Yuan’125 discloses an association parameter (a setting of the uplink power control parameters may be associated with an uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state (or common TCI state). The joint TCI state may or may not be applicable. The joint TCI state may be associated with an uplink TCI state and/or a downlink TCI state. Each TCI state (e.g., uplink TCI state or joint TCI state) may indicate parameters and/or quasi-colocation (QCL) relationships associated with resources of reference signals… Further, the setting of the uplink power control parameters may be associated with an uplink channel or an uplink reference signal, such that the setting may be channel-specific or signal-specific. The association between a setting of the uplink power control parameters and an uplink channel or an uplink reference signal may be indicated by radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling; see Yuan’125 par. 0052). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yuan’125's arrangement in Guan's invention to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards, as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. (see Yuan’125 par. 0004).
Specifically for claim 12, Guan discloses A terminal device, comprising:
a processor;
a transceiver coupled to the processor; and
a memory, configured to store one or more executable instructions of the processor;
wherein the processor, when loading and executing the one or more executable instructions, is caused to perform: (As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, a plurality of antenna panels, and an input/output apparatus. The processor is mainly configured to: process a communications protocol and communication data, control the terminal device, execute a software program, process data of the software program, and the like. The memory is mainly configured to store a software program and data; see Guan par. 0307).
For claim 2, Guan discloses The method according to claim 1, wherein
the downlink signaling carries the first association parameter and the first spatial filter; or
the downlink signaling carries the first association parameter (when the network device requires the terminal to simultaneously use a plurality of beams of one antenna panel, the network device notifies the terminal of TA offset values of the plurality of beams of the antenna panel by using one or a combination of a broadcast channel, RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, and control signaling DCI. Optionally, when the network device requires the terminal to simultaneously use a plurality of beams of a plurality of antenna panels, the network device notifies the terminal of TA offset values of the plurality of beams of the plurality of antenna panels by using one or a combination of a broadcast channel, RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, and control signaling DCI. Optionally, the network device may notify the terminal of a TA offset value of the antenna panel by using MAC-CE signaling, and notify the terminal of a TA offset value of the beam relative to the antenna panel by using DCI; see Guan par. 0262-0264).
For claim 3, Guan discloses The method according to claim 2, wherein in a case that the downlink signaling carries the first association parameter and the first spatial filter, an associated TA of the first association parameter comprises a plurality of TAs, wherein the plurality of TAs comprise the first TA, and the associated TA is preconfigured with the association relationship with the first association parameter (the network device configures one or more timing advance antenna panel groups for the terminal device by using higher layer signaling. Each antenna panel group includes or is associated with one or more antenna panels, and corresponds to one antenna panel group ID (PG-ID). The terminal device maintains one TA amount for each antenna panel group. Alternatively, optionally, the network device associates the antenna panel or the antenna panel group with one timing advance group (TAG), and the terminal device maintains one TA amount for each TAG. Alternatively, optionally, the network device associates the antenna panel or the antenna panel group with a plurality of TAGs, and the terminal device maintains one TA amount for each TAG. For different TAGs, a same antenna panel may have different TA amounts; see Guan par. 0241-243).
For claim 6, Guan discloses The method according to claim 2, wherein in a case that the downlink signaling carries the first association parameter and the first spatial filter, the first association parameter does not have a TA preconfigured with the association relationship (compared with a calculation manner in the conventional technology, the timing advance in this embodiment of this application may be increased by a timing advance parameter T offset, antenna panel· The timing advance parameter may be configured by the network device or agreed on in a protocol, and may be related to whether to switch an antenna panel or antenna panel group during uplink and downlink sending. Alternatively, the timing advance parameter may be determined by an enabling status of the antenna panel or antenna panel group; see Guan par. 0250).
For claims 8 and 19, Guan discloses The method according to claim 1, wherein a parameter type of the first association parameter comprises:
an uplink power control parameter (when the network device requires the terminal to simultaneously use a plurality of beams of a plurality of antenna panels, the network device notifies the terminal of power control parameters of the plurality of beams of the plurality of antenna panels by using one or a combination of a broadcast channel, RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, and control signaling DCI. Optionally, the network device may notify the terminal of a TA offset value of an antenna panel by using MAC-CE signaling, and notify the terminal of a power control parameter of a beam relative to the antenna panel by using DCI; see Guan par. 0234-0235) or.
The combination of Guan and Yuan’301 does not explicitly disclose a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. Yuan’125 discloses a unified transmission configuration indication (TCI) state (indications of uplink power control parameters (e.g., the Po value, the alpha value, the closed loop index, and the PL-RS) may not be unified together with a unified TCI, which may be associated with an uplink TCI state and/or a downlink TCI state. The unified TCI may be applied to multiple channel types, and different channel types may have different power control parameter settings. In this case, the indications of uplink power control parameters may not be unified together with the unified TCI state because multiple channel types with different power control parameter settings may be applicable for the unified TCI.; see Yuan’125 par. 0056). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yuan’125's arrangement in Guan's invention to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards, as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. (see Yuan’125 par. 0004).
For claim 9, The combination of Guan and Yuan’301 does not explicitly disclose The method according to claim 8, wherein the uplink power control parameter is associated with the unified TCI state; or the uplink power control parameter is not associated with the unified TCI state. Yuan’125 discloses The method according to claim 8, wherein the uplink power control parameter is associated with the unified TCI state; or the uplink power control parameter is not associated with the unified TCI state (The uplink power control indication scheme may be associated with a setting of one or more uplink power control parameters for the uplink channel or the reference signal in relation to an uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state. Different uplink power control parameter indication schemes may be associated with different uplink channels or reference signals, such as the PUCCH, the PUSCH, or the SRS, as opposed to having a unified uplink power control parameter indication together with a unified TCI, where different uplink channels applied with the unified TCI may have a same setting of uplink power control parameters. Depending on the uplink channel or the reference signal ( e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH, or SRS), the setting of one or more uplink power control parameters may be associated with the uplink TCI state or the joint TCI state, included with the uplink TCI state or the joint TCI state, or neither associated with nor included with the uplink TCI state or the joint TCI state. The UE may receive, from the base station, the one or more uplink power control parameters based at least in part on the indication of the uplink power control parameter indication scheme associated with the uplink channel or the reference signal; see Yuan’125 par. 0057). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yuan's arrangement in Guan's invention to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards, as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. (see Yuan’125 par. 0004).
For claim 17, Guan discloses The terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the first TA corresponds to difference-based TA update, or the first TA corresponds to absolute value-based TA update (The TA amount in this embodiment of this application may be N TA' or may be an absolute TA value. This is not limited in this embodiment of this application. Optionally, the timing advance information may further include one or more of the following information: an antenna panel group ID, an antenna panel ID a TAG ID, or timing advance adjustment information. The timing advance adjustment information may be timing advance adjustment information for one antenna panel or antenna panel group, or may be timing advance adjustment information for one or more antenna panels associated with one or more TAGs, or timing advance adjustment information of one or more TAGs associated with one or more antenna panels. Optionally, each antenna panel or antenna panel group may have a TA upper limit or a TA lower limit that needs to be met. Optionally, a value of the TA upper limit or the TA lower limit may be agreed on in a protocol, or may be configured by the network device. Optionally, a difference between TA amounts of different antenna panels or antenna panel groups associated with a same TAG, or of different TAGs associated with a same antenna panel or antenna panel group may need to meet a TA upper limit or a TA lower limit. Optionally, a value of the TA upper limit or the TA lower limit herein may be agreed on in a protocol, or may be configured by the network device; see Guan par. 0244-0247).
For claim 18, Guan discloses A network device (When the second communications apparatus is a network device, specifically, for example, a base station, FIG. 6 is a simplified schematic structural diagram of the base station. The base station includes a part 801 and a part 802; see Guan par. 0313 and Fig. 6), comprising:
a processor;
a transceiver coupled to the processor; and
a memory, configured to store one or more executable instructions of the processor;
wherein the processor, when loading and executing the one or more executable instructions, is caused to perform (The part 802 may include one or more boards. Each board may include one or more processors and one or more memories. The processor is configured to read and execute a program in the memory, to implement a baseband processing function and control the base station; see Guan par. 0315 and Fig. 6):
transmitting downlink signaling (The network device sends first resource configuration information to the terminal device. The first resource configuration information is used to configure one or more reference signal resource sets, and each reference signal resource set is associated with one antenna panel (for example, an antenna panel ID); see Guan par. 0164), wherein the downlink signaling at least carries a first association parameter (the network device may associate one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states of the terminal device with one or more antenna panels of the terminal device; see Guan par. 0172), the first association parameter having an association relationship with a first TA (The network device may configure related timing advance information for an antenna panel of the terminal device; see Guan par. 0236), and the first association parameter corresponding to a first spatial filter (the network device may configure a timing advance for each uplink beam indicator (for example, an SRS or an SRS resource set) of the terminal device; see Guan par. 0240; if one antenna panel can be used to send one or more possible beams, to implement more accurate TA control, a beam-level TA or TA offset may be further introduced. ATA offset of each beam is a TA value relative to an antenna panel in which the beam is located; see Guan par. 0256);
wherein the downlink signaling is configured for the terminal device to update a TA of the first spatial filter (the network device may deliver timing advance adjustment information of a plurality of TAGs or antenna panels by using one piece of signaling (for example, a MAC-CE message or DCI). For example, the MAC-CE message is used as an example. The MAC-CE includes a TAG-ID, and may further include several groups of bit values. Each group of bit values corresponds to a timing advance adjustment amount of an antenna panel that is in a TAG corresponding to the TAG-ID; see Guan par. 0248; the terminal device may directly replace an existing timing advance with the absolute adjustment amount. Alternatively, the timing advance adjustment amount may be a relative adjustment amount. In other words, the relative adjustment amount represents that, on a basis of an existing timing advance, the terminal device increases or decreases the relative adjustment amount. Optionally, the timing advance adjustment amount in this embodiment of this application may be quantized, and quantization resolution may be related to a subcarrier spacing; see Guan par. 0249).
Guan does not explicitly disclose an association parameter. Yuan’125 discloses an association parameter (a setting of the uplink power control parameters may be associated with an uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state ( or common TCI state). The joint TCI state may or may not be applicable. The joint TCI state may be associated with an uplink TCI state and/or a downlink TCI state. Each TCI state (e.g., uplink TCI state or joint TCI state) may indicate parameters and/or quasi-colocation (QCL) relationships associated with resources of reference signals… Further, the setting of the uplink power control parameters may be associated with an uplink channel or an uplink reference signal, such that the setting may be channel-specific or signal-specific. The association between a setting of the uplink power control parameters and an uplink channel or an uplink reference signal may be indicated by radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling; see Yuan’125 par. 0052). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yuan’125's arrangement in Guan's invention to improve spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards, as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. (see Yuan’125 par. 0004).
Claim(s) 13, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guan and Yuan’125, and further in view of Yuan et al. (US 2023/0396301, hereinafter “Yuan’301”).
For claims 13 and 20, The combination of Guan and Yuan’125 does not explicitly disclose The terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the terminal device is applicable to intra-cell beam management; or the terminal device is applicable to inter-cell mobility management. Yuan’301 discloses The terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the terminal device is applicable to intra-cell beam management; or the terminal device is applicable to inter-cell mobility management (UE 115-a may efficiently perform downlink and uplink beam management by reducing latency and signaling overhead for inter-cell mobility (such as for intra-centric and Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2)-centric inter-cell mobility), for a relatively large number of configured TCI states, or both. For example, UE 115-a may perform a multi-beam operation in a frequency range, such as Frequency Range 2 (FR2) or Frequency Range 1 (FR1), using a common beam 220 for data and control signaling in both the downlink and the uplink direction ( such as for intra-band carrier aggregation with a unified TCI framework for downlink and uplink beam indication). The unified TCI framework may indicate a TCI to be applicable to at least one downlink channel and at least one uplink channel. Additionally, or alternatively, UE 115-a may identify and specify features (such as by considering uplink coverage loss mitigation due to maximum permissible exposure (MPE)) to facilitate uplink beam selection based on an uplink beam indication with the unified TCI framework for uplink fast panel selection if UE 115-a is equipped with multiple antenna panels; see Yuan’301 par. 0084). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yuan’301's arrangement in Guan's invention to reduce signaling and network overhead (such as overhead related to beam indication) by using a single TCI state (see Yuan’301 par. 0083). reduce signaling and network overhead (such as overhead related to beam indication) by using a single TCI state (see Yuan’301 par. 0083).
For claim 14, the combination of Guan and Yuan’125 does not explicitly disclose The terminal device according to claim 13, wherein in a case that the terminal device is applicable to the inter-cell mobility management, the downlink signaling further comprises a physical cell identifier (PCI) indicator field, wherein the PCI indicator field indicates a neighbor cell. Yuan’301 discloses The terminal device according to claim 13, wherein in a case that the terminal device is applicable to the inter-cell mobility management, the downlink signaling further comprises a physical cell identifier (PCI) indicator field, wherein the PCI indicator field indicates a neighbor cell (Each BS 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells, for example a macro cell, a small cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or any combination thereof. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a BS 105 (such as over a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells (such as a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), or others). In some implementations, a cell also may refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (such as a sector) over which the logical communication entity operates; see Yuan’301 par. 0052). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Yuan’301's arrangement in Guan's invention to reduce signaling and network overhead (such as overhead related to beam indication) by using a single TCI state (see Yuan’301 par. 0083).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 15 and 16 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: claims 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 15 and 16 would be allowable because the closest prior arts listed above either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed invention of “wherein the downlink signaling is a first medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the first MAC CE comprises an association parameter indicator field and a TA command field, a value carried by the association parameter indicator field being a value of the first association parameter, and a value carried by the TA command field being a value of the first TA”, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) above as defined by applicant
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Gao et al. (US 2022/0022215): see par. 0060-0065, 0112-0120.
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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