DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to the application filed 15 November 2024, as a continuation of PCT/CN2022/093939 filed 19 May 2022, wherein claims 1-20 are pending and ready for examination.
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 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 19 February 2025 and 29 May 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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 1-3, 7-13, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US 2022/0225369 A1), hereafter referred Park.
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a method, carried out at a device, the method comprising:
receiving a control signal indicating a parameter related to a link of a first link type (Park, Fig. 25, [0467]; wireless device may receive a TCI-indication message indicating one or more TCIs of the plurality of TCIs and one or more link indicators, where the link indicator may indicate the TCI is applicable to a link type of a plurality of link types);
determining, based on the parameter, a subset of resources among a set of resources in a shared resource, the subset of resources reserved for carrying physical signals or channels associated with the first link type and declared as not available to carry physical signals or channels associated with a second link type (Park, [0467]-[0480]; in response to receiving the TCI-indication message, the wireless device may determine a second value indicated by the TCI field being mapped to a second TCI where the second TCI is set with its usage being UL); and
receiving a downlink signal associated with a link of the second link type over the set of resources excluding the subset of resources (Park, [0467]-[0480]; the wireless device may receive at least one of downlink signals/channels based on the TCI).
Regarding claim 9, Park teaches a method comprising:
determining a subset of resources among a set of resources in a shared resource, the subset of resources reserved for carrying physical signals or channels associated with a first link type and declared as not available to carry physical signals or channels associated with a second link type (Park, [0467]-[0480] and [0495]; a base station may determine a TCI-indication message, where the TCI-indication message indicates by the TCI field being mapped to a TCI where the TCI is set with its usage being UL or DL or joint UL/DL and configures uplink BWPs and downlink BWPs accordingly);
transmitting a control signal indicating a parameter related to a link of the first link type (Park, Fig. 25, [0467]-[0480]; wireless device may receive a TCI-indication message indicating one or more TCIs of the plurality of TCIs and one or more link indicators, where the link indicator may indicate the TCI is applicable to a link type of a plurality of link types, where the TCI-indication message may further comprise a BWP-ID field which may indicate a DL-BWP or a UL-BWP, and the link types can be DL, UL, or joint DL/UL); and
transmitting a downlink signal associated with a link of the second link type over the set of resources excluding the subset of resources (Park, [0467]-[0480]; the wireless device may receive at least one of downlink signals/channels based on the TCI).
Regarding claim 11, Park teaches an apparatus comprising:
a memory storing instructions; and at least one processor caused, by executing the instructions (Park, Fig. 15, [0203]-[0209], wireless device has a processing system and memory, where the memory may store computer program instructions that may be executed by the processing system to carry out the functionalities), to:
receive a control signal indicating a parameter related to a link of a first link type (Park, Fig. 25, [0467]; wireless device may receive a TCI-indication message indicating one or more TCIs of the plurality of TCIs and one or more link indicators, where the link indicator may indicate the TCI is applicable to a link type of a plurality of link types);
determine, based on the parameter, a subset of resources among a set of resources in a shared resource, the subset of resources reserved for carrying physical signals or channels associated with the first link type and declared as not available to carry physical signals or channels associated with a second link type (Park, [0467]-[0480]; in response to receiving the TCI-indication message, the wireless device may determine a second value indicated by the TCI field being mapped to a second TCI where the second TCI is set with its usage being UL); and
receive a downlink signal associated with a link of the second link type over the set of resources excluding the subset of resources (Park, [0467]-[0480]; the wireless device may receive at least one of downlink signals/channels based on the TCI).
Regarding claim 19, Park teaches an apparatus comprising:
a memory storing instructions; and at least one processor caused, by executing the instructions (Park, Fig. 15, [0203]-[0209], base station has a processing system and memory, where the memory may store computer program instructions that may be executed by the processing system to carry out the functionalities), to:
determine a subset of resources among a set of resources in a shared resource, the subset of resources reserved for carrying physical signals or channels associated with a first link type and declared as not available to carry physical signals or channels associated with a second link type (Park, [0467]-[0480] and [0495]; a base station may determine a TCI-indication message, where the TCI-indication message indicates by the TCI field being mapped to a TCI where the TCI is set with its usage being UL or DL or joint UL/DL and configures uplink BWPs and downlink BWPs accordingly);
transmit a control signal indicating a parameter related to a link of the first link type (Park, Fig. 25, [0467]-[0480]; wireless device may receive a TCI-indication message indicating one or more TCIs of the plurality of TCIs and one or more link indicators, where the link indicator may indicate the TCI is applicable to a link type of a plurality of link types, where the TCI-indication message may further comprise a BWP-ID field which may indicate a DL-BWP or a UL-BWP, and the link types can be DL, UL, or joint DL/UL); and
transmit a downlink signal associated with a link of the second link type over the set of resources excluding the subset of resources (Park, [0467]-[0480]; the wireless device may receive at least one of downlink signals/channels based on the TCI).
Regarding claims 2, 10, 12, and 20, Park teaches the method of claim 1, the method of claim 9, the apparatus of claim 11, and the apparatus of claim 19 above. Further, Park teaches wherein the set of resources comprises:
resources that are reserved for reception of a physical downlink shared channel associated with the second link type; or resources that are reserved for transmission of a physical uplink shared channel associated with the second link type (Park, [0246]-[0248]; a base station may configure a wireless device with a single slot PDSCH where the single slot PDSCH may be scheduled in a slot that may be based on the one or more activated TCI states in the slot with the scheduled single slot PDSCH).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Park teaches the method of claim 1 and the apparatus of claim 11 above. Further, Park teaches further comprising receiving a configuration indicating that the set of resources comprises control resource sets configured to the device for receiving physical control channels associated with the first link type or the second link type (Park, [0467]-[0480]; the wireless device may receive at least one of downlink channels and one or more CORESETs based on the TCI).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Park teaches the method of claim 1 and the apparatus of claim 11 above. Further, Park teaches wherein the control signal further indicates a reference signal configuration (Park, [0270]-[0278]; a base station may configure a wireless device with one or more sounding reference signal resources).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Park teaches the method of claim 7 and the apparatus of claim 17 above. Further, Park teaches further comprising basing the determining of the subset of resources on the indicated reference signal configuration (Park, [0270]-[0278]; a base station may configure a wireless device with one or more sounding reference signal resources, where the SRS resource in each SRS resource set may have the same time domain behavior in a same BWP).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as applied to claims 3 and 13 above, and further in view of Yoon et al. (US 2021/0029709 A1), hereafter referred Yoon.
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Park teaches the method of claim 3 and the apparatus of claim 13 above. Park does not expressly teach wherein the receiving the configuration comprises receiving the configuration via user equipment (UE)-specific radio resource control signaling.
However, Yoon teaches wherein the receiving the configuration comprises receiving the configuration via user equipment (UE)-specific radio resource control signaling (Yoon, [0039]; the CORESET may be specifically configured by the base station where the CORESET may be configured for the terminal through UE-specific RRC signaling).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yoon in order to reduce power consumption of the terminal performing unnecessary operations (Yoon, [0018]).
Claims 5, 6, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0322381 A1), hereafter referred Zhang.
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Park teaches the method of claim 1 and the apparatus of claim 11 above. Park does not expressly teach wherein receiving the downlink signal comprises rate matching around the subset of resources reserved for carrying physical signals or channels associated with the first link type.
However, Zhang teaches wherein receiving the downlink signal comprises rate matching around the subset of resources reserved for carrying physical signals or channels associated with the first link type (Zhang, [0025]-[0026]; the physical layer processing of the PDSCH may include rate matching).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhang in order to enable PDSCH rate matching for inter-cell multi-TRP operation (Zhang, [0026]).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Park in view of Zhang teaches the method of claim 5 and the apparatus of claim 15 above. Park does not expressly teach wherein the rate matching is carried out at the resource element (RE) level or resource block (RB)-symbol level.
However, Zhang teaches wherein the rate matching is carried out at the resource element (RE) level or resource block (RB)-symbol level (Zhang, [0025]-[0026]; PDSCH rate matching is provided such that physical resource blocks with synchronization signal blocks are not available for PDSCH in OFDM where an SSB is transmitted).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Park to include the above recited limitations as taught by Zhang in order to enable PDSCH rate matching for inter-cell multi-TRP operation (Zhang, [0026]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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