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 .
This is responsive to application 18/929,531 filed 10/28/2024 in which claims 1-17 are presented for examination.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 6, 11, 12 and 14 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 7-10, 13 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shrestha et al (US 2022/0109496 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Shrestha teaches a cell beam indication method (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6), comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, configuration information sent by a network device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure at least one cell group, and each cell group comprises a first cell and a second cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], UE receives SIB1 that configures a first cell group, e.g. cells 522 and 526 and a second cell group, e.g. cells 526 and 530);
determining, by the terminal device, a second beam based on a first beam, wherein the first beam is a beam indicated via a first cell in a first cell group, the second beam is a beam corresponding to the first cell group, and the first cell group comprises at least one multi-beam cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern); and
determining, by the terminal device, a third beam based on the second beam, wherein the third beam is a beam corresponding to a second cell in the first cell group (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], third beam 530 and second beam 526 sharing common beam pattern).
Regarding claim 9, Shrestha teaches a cell beam indication method (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6), comprising:
sending, by a network device, configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure at least one cell group, and each cell group comprises a first cell and a second cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], base station sends SIB1 that configures a first cell group, e.g. cells 522 and 526 and a second cell group, e.g. cells 526 and 530);
indicating, by the network device, a first beam to the terminal device via a first cell in a first cell group, wherein the first beam is used by the terminal device to determine a second beam corresponding to the first cell group, the second beam is used by the terminal device to determine a third beam corresponding to a second cell in the first cell group, and the first cell group comprises at least one multi-beam cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern);
determining, by the network device, the second beam based on the first beam; and determining, by the network device, the third beam based on the second beam (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], beams 522, 526 and 530 sharing common beam pattern).
Regarding claim 16, Shrestha teaches a terminal device, comprising: memory including computer instructions;
a transceiver, configured to receive configuration information sent by a network device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure at least one cell group, and each cell group comprises a first cell and a second cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], UE receives SIB1 that configures a first cell group, e.g. cells 522 and 526 and a second cell group, e.g. cells 526 and 530); and
a processor, coupled to retrieve and execute the computer instructions to determine a second beam based on a first beam, wherein the first beam is a beam indicated via a first cell in a first cell group, the second beam is a beam corresponding to the first cell group, and the first cell group comprises at least one multi-beam cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern); and
further configured to determine a third beam based on the second beam, wherein the third beam is a beam corresponding to a second cell in the first cell group (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], third beam 530 and second beam 526 sharing common beam pattern).
Regarding claim 17, Shrestha teaches a network device, comprising:
a transceiver, configured to send configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the configuration information is used to configure at least one cell group, and each cell group comprises a first cell and a second cell; memory including computer instructions (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], base station sends SIB1 that configures a first cell group, e.g. cells 522 and 526 and a second cell group, e.g. cells 526 and 530); and
a processor, coupled to retrieve and execute the computer instructions to indicate a first beam to the terminal device via a first cell in a first cell group, wherein the first beam is used by the terminal device to determine a second beam corresponding to the first cell group, the second beam is used by the terminal device to determine a third beam corresponding to a second cell in the first cell group, and the first cell group comprises at least one multi-beam cell (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern);
further configured to determine the second beam based on the first beam; and further configured to determine the third beam based on the second beam (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], beams 522, 526 and 530 sharing common beam pattern).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Shrestha teaches wherein the determining, by the terminal device, the second beam comprises one or more of the following:
determining, by the terminal device if the first beam comprises only one beam, that the second beam is the first beam;
determining, by the terminal device if the first cell belongs to M cell groups and the first beam comprises M beams, that the second beam is one of the M beams, wherein M is an integer greater than 1 (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern and beam 526 and 530 sharing common beam pattern); determining, by the terminal device if the first cell belongs to only the first cell group and the first beam comprises N beams, that the second beam is the first beam, wherein N is an integer greater than 1; and determining, by the terminal device when a first condition is satisfied if the first cell belongs to only the first cell group and the first beam comprises N beams, that the second beam is one of the N beams, wherein the first condition comprises: the first cell group comprises at least one single-beam cell; and/or the first cell group comprises a cell that also belongs to another cell group.
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Shrestha teaches wherein the determining, by the terminal device, a third beam based on the second beam specifically comprises one or more of the following: if the second cell belongs to only the first cell group, and the second beam comprises only one beam, determining, by the terminal device, that the third beam is the second beam; if the second cell belongs to only the first cell group, and the second beam comprises N beams, determining, by the terminal device, that the third beam is a beam in the second beam, determining, by the terminal device, that the third beam is the second beam, determining, by the terminal device when the second cell is a single-beam cell, that the third beam is a beam in the second beam, or determining, by the terminal device when the second cell is a multi-beam cell, that the third beam is the second beam, wherein N is an integer greater than 1; and
determining, by the terminal device if the second cell also belongs to at least one other cell group, the second beam comprises only one beam and each of the other cell group corresponds to one beam, that the third beam comprises the second beam and the beam corresponding to each of the other cell group (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern and beam 526 and 530 sharing common beam pattern).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Shrestha teaches wherein the configuration information is further used to configure the cell or cell group to satisfy one of constraint rules, and the constraint rules comprise: a cell in each cell group belongs to only a single cell group; when there are a plurality of cells that belong to a plurality of cell groups in the cell group, the first cell is a cell that belongs to a plurality of cell groups; when there are a plurality of cells that belong to a plurality of cell groups in the cell group, the plurality of cells that belong to a plurality of cell groups all belong to a same cell group; and a plurality of cells that belong to a plurality of cell groups belong to totally different cell groups (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern and beam 526 and 530 sharing common beam pattern).
Regarding claim 8, Shrestha teaches wherein after the determining, by the terminal device, a third beam based on the second beam, the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, a target beam based on the third beam; and transmitting, by the terminal device, data with the network device using the target beam (Shrestha: Figs. 5-6; [0129], second beam 526 and first beam 522 sharing common beam pattern and beam 526 and 530 sharing common beam pattern).
Conclusion
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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