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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/09/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 4-8, 10-11, 14-18 and 20-24 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding claim 1, the Applicant argues that previously cited prior arts fails to form an obvious combination to disclose the claimed feature of “applying the TAC to the TAG, wherein the TAG is: the first TAG based on the TAG parameter and the binary value being set to the first value; and the second TAG based on the TAG parameter and the binary value being set to the second value”. This claim feature was previously rejected based on previously cited prior art references, Guo (US 2025/0024512) and Fan (US 2024/0205855). The Applicant indicates that previously presented rejections relied on Guo to disclose “the binary value” and Fan to “the TAG parameter” for applying the TAC to the TAG. The Applicant argues that such combination of Guo and Fan would not have been obvious as Fan and Guo presents alternative approaches with no obvious reason to merge to result in the claimed invention.
In the new grounds of rejection, a different embodiment of Fan’s invention is applied for this claim feature. Paragraph [0193] of Fan recites the following:
[0193] The first initial TA value is indicated by some fields in the RAR message, for example, a timing advance command (timing advance command) field in Table 1. The timing advance command field has a plurality of bits (bits), for example, 12 bits, so that the plurality of bits indicate various values of the first initial TA value. The first TAG is indicated by some other fields in the RAR message, for example, a reserved field (an R field) in Table 1, so that the terminal determines, based on the reserved field in the RAR message, that the initial TA value in the RAR message is the first initial TA value corresponding to the first TAG. The reserved field is one bit, so that a value 0 or 1 of the bit correspondingly indicates two TAGs. For example, the value 0 of the bit indicates the first TAG, and the value 1 of the bit indicates another TAG, for example, a second TAG. Alternatively, the value 1 of the bit indicates the first TAG, and the value 0 of the bit indicates a second TAG. In response to more than two TAGs being indicated, the reserved field and another field is used for joint indication. For example, redundant bits in the timing advance command field are used, and these redundant bits and the reserved field jointly indicate more than two TAGs. The first TAG is alternatively indicated by any other field in the RAR message. This is not limited in at least one embodiment. For example, the first TAG is alternatively indicated by using some or all bits of an existing field in the random access response message. Specifically, some or all bits of a temporary C-RNTI field in the random access response message is used as the foregoing field, to be specific, indicates whether a TA included in the random access response message is a TA of a first cell. Optionally, the some or all bits of the currently existing field in the random access response message indicate the first TAG only in response to a first condition being met. The first condition at least includes: A random access preamble corresponding to the random access response message is a contention-free random access preamble. In the RAR message, the first TAG is a local index (or the index of the first TAG is a local index); or the first TAG is a global index (or the index of the first TAG is a global index). The global index indicates that the first TAG is a TAG in all TAGs corresponding to all cells. All the cells are all serving cells configured by the network device for the terminal. The local index indicates that the first TAG is a TAG in a plurality of TAGs corresponding to a specific cell. The specific cell is a cell that sends the RAR message. The first row of the foregoing table only indicates a correspondence manner of bits, and is not content of the RAR message. In other words, the content of the RAR message starts from the second row of the foregoing table.
As shown in the above cited paragraph [0193], the TAG associated with the TAC is indicated using the 1-bit reserved field and another field, such as a C-RNTI field, a local index field, or a global index field. The 1-bit reserved field may be considered as the claimed binary value while the “another field”, which is used to determine the TAG, may be considered as the claimed TAG parameter. As such, Fan discloses the feature of “applying the TAC to the TAG, wherein the TAG is: the first TAG based on the TAG parameter and the binary value being set to the first value; and the second TAG based on the TAG parameter and the binary value being set to the second value” in order to indicate a specific TAG in the event that more than two TAGs are indicated in the RAR message.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5, 7-8, 10-11, 14-15, 17-18 and 20-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo ‘512 (US 2025/0024512 A1) in view of Go (US 2025/0151063) and Fan (US 2024/0205855).
Guo ‘512 discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a method comprising:
transmitting, by the wireless device (see “UE” recited in paragraph [0123]), a RA preamble of an RA procedure of the serving cell (see step 910 in Fig. 9 and paragraph [0123], wherein the UE transmits a random access preamble in a cell associated with multiple TAGs);
receiving the RAR, corresponding to the RA preamble, wherein the RAR comprises: a TAC (see step 920 in Fig. 9, wherein the UE receives a RAR including a TAC in response to the preamble transmitted in step 910); and a bitfield indicating a binary value, wherein a first value of the binary value indicates the first TAG and a second value of the binary value indicates the second TAG; wherein the RAR does not comprise a TAG ID (see “the TAG indication field may be included in the RAR. In such aspects, the corresponding TAG may be indicated using a reserved bit in the RAR PDSCH. For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106], wherein a single bit field is used for indicating the TAG, therefore, there is no need for the use of a TAG identity field);
applying the TAC to the TAG, wherein the TAG is: the first TAG based on the binary value being set to the first value; and the second TAG based on the binary value being set to the second value (see step 940 in Fig. 9, wherein timing advance parameter being adjusted with the corresponding TAG based on the TAC; and see paragraph [0106], which describe the TAG indicator bit).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the applying is further based on the RRC configuration parameters indicating the TAG (see “the TAG indication field may be included in the RAR. In such aspects, the corresponding TAG may be indicated using a reserved bit in the RAR PDSCH. For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106], wherein a single bit field is used for indicating the TAG, therefore, there is no need for the use of a TAG identity field).
Regrading claim 5, wherein: the first TAG is identified by a first TAG identity (see “each serving cell may be linked to a specific TAG by including a TAG identifier (sometimes referred to as a tag-Id) within the configured serving cell parameters (sometimes referred to as ServingCellConfig)” recited in paragraph [0090]).
Regarding claim 10, wherein the first value is zero; the second value is one (see “For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106]); and a first TAG ID of the first TAG is lower than a second TAG ID of the second TAG see “the second cell 715 may be configured with two TAG identifiers, as shown by reference number 740 (e.g., Tag-Id1 and Tag-Id2)” recited in paragraph [0102], wherein Tag-Id1 is lower than Tag-Id2).
Regarding claim 11, a wireless device (see “UE” recited in paragraph [0123]) comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory (see Fig. 22 including memory 292 and processor 290) storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to:
transmit a RA preamble of an RA procedure of the serving cell (see step 910 in Fig. 9 and paragraph [0123], wherein the UE transmits a random access preamble in a cell associated with multiple TAGs);
receive the RAR, corresponding to the RA preamble, wherein the RAR comprises: a TAC (see step 920 in Fig. 9, wherein the UE receives a RAR including a TAC in response to the preamble transmitted in step 910); and a bitfield indicating a binary value, wherein a first value of the binary value indicates the first TAG and a second value of the binary value indicates the second TAG; wherein the RAR does not comprise a TAG ID (see “the TAG indication field may be included in the RAR. In such aspects, the corresponding TAG may be indicated using a reserved bit in the RAR PDSCH. For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106], wherein a single bit field is used for indicating the TAG, therefore, there is no need for the use of a TAG identity field);
apply the TAC to the TAG, wherein the TAG is: the first TAG based on the binary value being set to the first value; and the second TAG based on the binary value being set to the second value (see step 940 in Fig. 9, wherein timing advance parameter being adjusted with the corresponding TAG based on the TAC; and see paragraph [0106], which describe the TAG indicator bit).
Regarding claim 14, wherein the applying is further based on the RRC configuration parameters indicating the TAG (see “the TAG indication field may be included in the RAR. In such aspects, the corresponding TAG may be indicated using a reserved bit in the RAR PDSCH. For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106], wherein a single bit field is used for indicating the TAG, therefore, there is no need for the use of a TAG identity field).
Regrading claim 15, wherein: the first TAG is identified by a first TAG identity; (see “each serving cell may be linked to a specific TAG by including a TAG identifier (sometimes referred to as a tag-Id) within the configured serving cell parameters (sometimes referred to as ServingCellConfig)” recited in paragraph [0090]).
Regarding claim 20, wherein the first value is zero; the second value is one (see “For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106]); and a first TAG ID of the first TAG is lower than a second TAG ID of the second TAG see “the second cell 715 may be configured with two TAG identifiers, as shown by reference number 740 (e.g., Tag-Id1 and Tag-Id2)” recited in paragraph [0102], wherein Tag-Id1 is lower than Tag-Id2).
Regarding claim 21, wherein the second TAG is identified by a second TAG identity (see “each serving cell may be linked to a specific TAG by including a TAG identifier (sometimes referred to as a tag-Id) within the configured serving cell parameters (sometimes referred to as ServingCellConfig)” recited in paragraph [0090]).
Regarding claim 23, wherein the second TAG is identified by a second TAG identity (see “each serving cell may be linked to a specific TAG by including a TAG identifier (sometimes referred to as a tag-Id) within the configured serving cell parameters (sometimes referred to as ServingCellConfig)” recited in paragraph [0090]).
Regarding claim 25, a non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processor (see Fig. 22 including memory 292 and processor 290) of a wireless device (see “UE” recited in paragraph [0123]), cause the wireless device to comprising:
transmit a RA preamble of an RA procedure of the serving cell (see step 910 in Fig. 9 and paragraph [0123], wherein the UE transmits a random access preamble in a cell associated with multiple TAGs);
receive the RAR, corresponding to the RA preamble, wherein the RAR comprises: a TAC (see step 920 in Fig. 9, wherein the UE receives a RAR including a TAC in response to the preamble transmitted in step 910); and a bitfield indicating a binary value, wherein a first value of the binary value indicates the first TAG and a second value of the binary value indicates the second TAG; wherein the RAR does not comprise a TAG ID (see “the TAG indication field may be included in the RAR. In such aspects, the corresponding TAG may be indicated using a reserved bit in the RAR PDSCH. For example, if the reserved bit is set to 0, then the corresponding TAG may be a first TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell. And if the reserved bit is set to 1, then the corresponding TAG may be a second TAG of the multiple TAGs associated with the serving cell” recited in paragraph [0106], wherein a single bit field is used for indicating the TAG, therefore, there is no need for the use of a TAG identity field);
apply the TAC to the TAG, wherein the TAG is: the first TAG based on the binary value being set to the first value; and the second TAG based on the binary value being set to the second value (see step 940 in Fig. 9, wherein timing advance parameter being adjusted with the corresponding TAG based on the TAC; and see paragraph [0106], which describe the TAG indicator bit).
Guo’512 does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 1, 11 and 25, receiving, by a wireless device, RRC configuration parameters comprising: a first TAG index of a first TAG for a serving cell, wherein the first TAG is associated with a first uplink TCI state for uplink transmissions via an uplink BWP of the serving cell; a second TAG index of a first TAG for a serving cell, wherein the second TAG is associated with a second uplink TCI state for uplink transmissions via an uplink BWP of the serving cell; a TAG parameter used to determine a TAG of the first TAG and the second TAG, for applying a TAC comprised in the RAR; applying the TAC to the TAG wherein the TAG is the first TAG based on the TAG parameter; and the second TAG based on the TAG parameter; transmitting, via the serving cell, an uplink signal based on a TA value of the TAG; regarding claims 7 and 17, wherein transmitting the uplink signal is further based on an uplink TCI state associated with the TAG; regarding claims 8 and 18, wherein the uplink TCI state is: the first uplink TCI state in response to the TAG being the first TAG; regarding claims 22 and 24, wherein the uplink TCI state is the second uplink TCI state in response to the TAG being the second TAG.
Go discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 11, a method comprising:
receiving, by a wireless device (see “The UE may receive configuration information related to the serving cell (via/using TRP1 and/or TRP2) from the network side” recited in paragraph [0302]), RRC configuration parameters (see “The configuration information may be transmitted through a higher layer (e.g., RRC, MAC CE)” recited in paragraph [0309]) comprising:
a first TAG index of a first TAG for a serving cell (see “The configuration information may include information related to multiple TRP settings, multiple TAG settings for serving cells” recited in paragraph [0303] and “TAG index’ recited in paragraph [0305]), wherein the first TAG is associated with a first uplink TCI state (see “TCI state” recited in paragraph [0305]) for uplink transmissions via an uplink BWP of the serving cell (see “BWP” recited in paragraph [0305]; and see “multiple TAG settings for serving cells, and uplink transmission and reception” recited in paragraph [0303]; Fig. 15 also shows that the configuration information received by the UE in step S1201 being used for the uplink transmission in step S1203);
a second TAG index of a first TAG for a serving cell (see “The configuration information may include information related to multiple TRP settings, multiple TAG settings for serving cells” recited in paragraph [0303] and “TAG index’ recited in paragraph [0305]), wherein the second TAG is associated with a second uplink TCI state (see “TCI state” recited in paragraph [0305]) for uplink transmissions via an uplink BWP of the serving cell (see “BWP” recited in paragraph [0305]; and see “multiple TAG settings for serving cells, and uplink transmission and reception” recited in paragraph [0303]; Fig. 15 also shows that the configuration information received by the UE in step S1201 being used for the uplink transmission in step S1203); and
transmitting, via the serving cell, an uplink signal based on a TA value of the TAG (see step S1030 in Fig. 10 and paragraphs [0208]-[0209], wherein the UE performs uplink transmission based on the first indication information or the second indication information each having a TA value associated with a TAG).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, wherein transmitting the uplink signal is further based on an uplink TCI state associated with the TAG (see step S1030 in Fig. 10 and paragraphs [0208]-[0209], wherein the UE performs uplink transmission based on the first indication information or the second indication information each having a UL TCI state and TA value associated with a TAG).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, wherein the uplink TCI state is: the first uplink TCI state in response to the TAG being the first TAG (see “first UL TCI state…first TAG…second UL TCI state…second TAG” recited in paragraph [0209]).
Regarding claims 22 and 24, wherein the uplink TCI state is the second uplink TCI state in response to the TAG being the second TAG (see “first UL TCI state…first TAG…second UL TCI state…second TAG” recited in paragraph [0209]).
Fan discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 11, a TAG parameter used to determine a TAG of the first TAG and the second TAG, for applying a TAC comprised in a RAR (see “The first initial TA value is indicated by some fields in the RAR message…Alternatively, the value 1 of the bit indicates the first TAG, and the value 0 of the bit indicates a second TAG. In response to more than two TAGs being indicated, the reserved field and another field is used for joint indication” recited in paragraph [0193], wherein the “another field” being used to indicate the TAG is considered as a TAG parameter);
applying the TAC to the TAG wherein the TAG is: the first TAG based on the TAG parameter and the binary value set to the first value; and the second TAG based on the TAG parameter and the binary value being set to the second value (see “The reserved field is one bit, so that a value 0 or 1 of the bit correspondingly indicates two TAGs…Alternatively, the value 1 of the bit indicates the first TAG, and the value 0 of the bit indicates a second TAG. In response to more than two TAGs being indicated, the reserved field and another field is used for joint indication” recited in paragraph [0193], wherein the one-bit reserved field represents the claimed “binary value” and the “another field” represents the claimed TAG parameter).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Guo ‘512 using features, as taught by Go and Fan, in order to configure uplink transmission operation of a terminal for a serving cell serving multiple timing advance groups (see paragraphs [0201]-[0203] of Go) and in order to reduce the transmission overhead in a RAR message (see paragraph [0194] of Fan).
Claim(s) 9, 19 and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo ‘512, Go and Fan as applied to claims 1-2 and 11-12 above, and further in view of Comsa (US 2024/0188015 A1).
Guo ‘512, Go and Fan disclose the features as shown above.
Go also discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 26, wherein transmitting the uplink signal is further based on an uplink TCI state associated with the TAG (see step S1030 in Fig. 10 and paragraphs [0208]-[0209], wherein the UE performs uplink transmission based on the first indication information or the second indication information each having a UL TCI state and TA value associated with a TAG).
Guo ‘512 does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 9, 19 and 26, wherein transmitting the uplink signal with a transmit power that is determined based on the uplink TCI state.
Comsa discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 9, 19 and 26, wherein transmitting the uplink signal with a transmit power that is determined based on the uplink TCI state (see “The WTRU may further set the power of this PUCCH based on the first or second set of power control parameters for PUCCH configured for the identified enhanced TCI state” recited in paragraph [0190]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Guo ‘512, Go and Fan using features, as taught by Comsa, in order to allow a WTRU to communicate with multiple TRPs simultaneously (see paragraph [0090] of Comsa).
Conclusion
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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