DETAILED ACTION
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)(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 1-7 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Yuan et al. (US 2024/0179588, “Yuan”).
Regarding claim 1, Yuan discloses a method, comprising:
- receiving, by a terminal device from a network device of a first serving cell, Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration information for a second serving cell, wherein the RRC configuration information includes one or more Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states associated with the second serving cell (See S301 Fig.3 and ¶.181, terminal device receives RRC signaling from the first serving cell 101 for configuring a plurality of TCI states including a TCI state of the second cell 102; See ¶.184, the terminal device may activate one or more of the plurality of TCI states configured in step S301),
- receiving, by the terminal device, a high-layer parameter to indicate a first TCI state of the one or more TCI states for switching to the second serving cell (See ¶.18, the terminal device receives higher layer signaling from the first network device, where the higher layer signaling is used for configuring a plurality of TCI states, and the plurality of TCI states include the TCI state of the second network device; See further ¶.29 and ¶.48; See ¶.52, the terminal device performs beam switching based on the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index; See ¶.221, the terminal device completes switching from the beam of the cell 101 to the beam of the cell 102, that is, L1/L2 beam switching);
- receiving, by the terminal device, a handover command to switch to the second serving cell (See S304 Fig.3 and ¶.196, the first message includes handover indication information and the identification information of the second cell 102. The handover indication information may explicitly or implicitly indicate the terminal device to perform cell handover or not. The first message may be DCI or MAC-CE signaling); and
- switching, by the terminal device, to the second serving cell (See ¶.196, the first message includes handover indication information and the identification information of the second cell 102. The handover indication information may explicitly or implicitly indicate the terminal device to perform cell handover or not. The first message may be DCI or MAC-CE signaling See ¶.221, the terminal device completes switching from the beam of the cell 101 to the beam of the cell 102, that is, L1/L2 beam switching).
Regarding claim 2, Yuan discloses “applying the first TCI state according to the high-layer parameter (See ¶.7, the DCI explicitly indicates, by using the first information, that the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index in the DCI is the TCI state of the second network device, so as to implement indication of the TCI state of the second network device by using the DCI; See ¶.18, the terminal device receives higher layer signaling from the first network device, where the higher layer signaling is used for configuring a plurality of TCI states, and the plurality of TCI states include the TCI state of the second network device. Further, the method may further include: The terminal device receives media access control-control element MAC-CE signaling from the first network device, where the MAC-CE signaling is used for activating one or more of the plurality of TCI states, and the one or more activated TCI states include the TCI state of the second network device).”
Regarding claim 3, Yuan discloses “applying the first TCI state on reception of downlink (DL) channels and reference signals (RSs) of the second serving cell (See S701 Fig.7, downlink reference signal; See ¶.66, the terminal device determines a path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on transmit power of the downlink reference signal and receive power of the downlink reference signal; and the terminal device determines transmit power of the one or more SRSs based on the path loss; See ¶.159, the TCI is configured by RRC signaling, and is referred to as a TCI state in the RRC signaling. A higher layer configures one or more QCL relationships by using TCI states, that is, configures one or more QCL relationships between downlink signals and PDSCH-DMRSs; See ¶.163, a TCI state of a second network device (which may also be referred to as a TCI state of a non-serving cell) in embodiments of this disclosure may be understood as that a reference signal in QCL-Type D information included in the TCI state is from a cell different from a cell on which the terminal device currently camps; See further ¶.193 and ¶.222-223).”
Regarding claim 4, Yuan discloses “applying the first TCI state on transmission of uplink (UL) channels and reference signals (RSs) of the second serving cell (See S706 Fig.7, uplink reference signal, SRS; See ¶.63, the terminal device sends the one or more SRSs to the second network device, to assist the second network device in determining the uplink timing advance or the uplink timing advance offset, and cell handover does not need to be performed. That is, before L1/L2 handover, the terminal device may obtain the uplink timing advance or the uplink timing advance offset between the terminal device and the second network device, so that a delay in a random access process can be saved, and the terminal device can communicate with the non-serving cell by using a beam of the non-serving cell).”
Regarding claim 5, Yuan discloses “receiving, by the terminal device, the handover command through a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) command (See S302, the terminal device receives MAC-CE signaling; See ¶.196, the first message includes handover indication information and the identification information of the second cell 102. The handover indication information may explicitly or implicitly indicate the terminal device to perform cell handover or not. The first message may be MAC-CE signaling).”
Regarding claim 6, Yuan discloses “receiving, by the terminal device, the handover command through a Downlink Control Information (DCI) signal (See S304 Fig.3 and ¶.196, the first message includes handover indication information and the identification information of the second cell 102. The handover indication information may explicitly or implicitly indicate the terminal device to perform cell handover or not. The first message may be DCI).”
Regarding claim 7, Yuan discloses “the high-layer parameter is a Layer-1 (L1) parameter; or the high-layer parameter is a Layer-2 (L2) parameter (See ¶.221, the terminal device determining an uplink beam based on a downlink beam corresponding to the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index may be understood as the terminal device determining a spatial filter parameter for uplink sending by using a spatial filter that is determined based on the reference signal (for example, an SSB) in the QCL-Type D information of the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index. It may be understood that, in step 307, the terminal device completes switching from the beam of the cell 101 to the beam of the cell 102, that is, L1/L2 beam switching).”
Regarding claim 15, it is a system claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations “a processor and a memory (See Fig.10)” and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 16-20, they are claims corresponding to claims 2-6, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
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 of this title, 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 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuan in view of Dong et al. (US 2025/0048206, “Dong”).
Regarding claim 8, Yuan discloses a method, comprising:
- receiving, by a terminal device, a list of candidate serving cells and a set of Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration information and measurement conditions for each of the candidate serving cells (See ¶.23, the DCI is in DCI format 1_0. The first network device may be a serving cell of the terminal device, and the second network device may be a non-serving cell of the terminal device; See ¶.68, the terminal device receives RRC signaling from a first network device, where the RRC signaling is used for configuring a plurality of TCI states, the plurality of TCI states include a TCI state used to determine uplink timing information, and the uplink timing information includes an uplink timing advance or an uplink timing advance offset for communication between the terminal device and a second network device; See ¶.65, the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal to obtain a measurement result, where the measurement result includes a downlink timing difference between the terminal device and the second network device, and the measurement result is used by the second network device to determine whether to configure the SRS resource; and the terminal device sends the measurement result to the first network device; See ¶.162, a TCI state of a first network device (which may also be referred to as a TCI state of a serving cell) in embodiments of this disclosure may be understood as that a reference signal in QCL-Type D information included in the TCI state is from a cell on which a terminal device camps; Examiner’s Note: Dong explicitly discloses the limitations “receiving a list of candidate serving cells”);
- receiving, by the terminal device, a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for each of the candidate serving cells (See S301 Fig.3, receiving a plurality of TCI states including a TCI state of the second candidate serving cell 102)
- performing, by the terminal device, a Layer-1 (L1) measurement on each of the candidate serving cells based on the measurement conditions (See ¶.3, a terminal device may perform layer (L1) measurement and reporting for a non-serving cell. For example, the terminal device measures, based on a physical measurement mechanism, a signal sent by the non-serving cell, and reports a measurement result (for example, receive power obtained through reference signal L1 measurement)); and
- determining, by the terminal device, a serving cell for handover from the list of candidate serving cells (See ¶.196, the first message includes handover indication information and the identification information of the second cell 102. The handover indication information may explicitly or implicitly indicate the terminal device to perform cell handover or not. The first message may be DCI or MAC-CE signaling See ¶.221, the terminal device completes switching from the beam of the cell 101 to the beam of the cell 102, that is, L1/L2 beam switching).
Yuan does not explicitly disclose what Dong discloses “a terminal device receives a list of candidate serving cells (Dong, See ¶.189, an RRC information element in the RRC configuration associated with candidate target serving cell list; See ¶.259, MAC CE which may contain the information of the UE Identity that is configured in the RRC configuration associated with the candidate target serving cell list in the L1/L2 signaling for triggering the fast serving cell change).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “a terminal device receives a list of candidate serving cells” as taught by Dong into the system of Yuan, so that it provides a way of indicating one or more suitable neighboring cells among a set of candidate cells for serving cell change (Dong, See ¶.92).
Regarding claim 9, Yuan discloses “reporting, by the terminal device, the determined serving cell for handover for handover to a network device (See S307 Fig.3, S506 Fig.5 and S703 Fig.7; See ¶.3, a terminal device may perform layer (L1) measurement and reporting for a non-serving cell. For example, the terminal device measures, based on a physical measurement mechanism, a signal sent by the non-serving cell, and reports a measurement result (for example, receive power obtained through reference signal L1 measurement)).”
Regarding claim 10, Yuan discloses “initiating, by the terminal device, a handover process to switch to the determined serving cell for handover by applying the TCI state of the determined serving cell for handover (See ¶.7, the terminal device may initiate random access to the second network device based on the TCI state indicated by the TCI state index in the DCI and the random access resource determined by using the preamble, the mask index, and the SSB index. In other words, the terminal device can be triggered, based on L1/L2 signaling, to initiate random access to the non-serving cell. Compared with random access initiated by the terminal device based on higher layer signaling (for example, L3 signaling), the random access initiated based on the L1/L2 signaling requires less signaling interaction, so that signaling overheads can be reduced and a random access delay can be shortened. In addition, communication between the terminal device and the non-serving cell can be implemented).”
Regarding claim 11, it is a claim corresponding to the receiving step of claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Regarding claims 12-14, they are claims corresponding to claims 2, 3, & 5, respectively and are therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claims.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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/JUNG H PARK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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