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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged with the benefit of a prior-filed application with the priority of August 10, 2022 for PCT/CN2022/111580.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 16, 2024, September 26, 2025, February 26, 2026, and September 17, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 14, “That method of claim 1” is cited in line 1 of the instant claim. It is suggested to replace with “The method of claim 1” for consistency and clarification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Examiner’s Note
Applicant(s) are reminded that optional or conditional elements do not narrow the claims because they can always be omitted. See e.g. MPEP §2106 II C: "Language that suggest or makes optional but does not require steps to be performed or does not limit a claim to a particular structure does not limit the scope of a claim or claim limitation. [Emphasis in original.]"; and In re Johnston, 435 F.3d 1381, 77 USPQ2d 1788, 1790 (Fed. Cir. 2006) "As a matter of linguistic precision, optional elements do not narrow the claim because they can always be omitted." In re Johnston, 435 F.3d 1381, 77 USPQ2d 1788, 1790 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (where the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board's claim construction of "further including that said wall may be smooth, corrugated, or profiled with increased dimensional proportions as pipe size is increased" since "this additional content did not narrow the scope of the claim because these limitations are stated in the permissive form 'may.'").
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.
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.
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.
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.
Claims 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harada et al (US Patent Application Publication 2024/0314600), and further in view of Ma et al (US Patent Application Publication 2025/0016699). Hereinafter Harada and Ma.
Regarding claim 1, Harada discloses a wireless communication method, comprising:
determining, by a terminal device in case that the terminal device has a first capability, that there is no measurement restriction and/or scheduling availability in a first scenario, wherein the first capability at least indicates that the terminal device is capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of channels and/or signals on a plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]; the terminal determines that it has capability of simultaneous transmission, and determines that it does not have scheduling constraints for RRM measurement (i.e. no measurement restriction), then transmits the capability information to the network).
However, Harada does not explicitly disclose “the first scenario is a scenario in which time-domain resources of the plurality of channels and/or signals to be received by the terminal device overlap.”
Ma discloses the device determines the spatial relationships for the one or more transmission beams, where the device determines the spatial relationships based on the temporal overlap of CSI-RSs, and the device infers that the transmission beams used for those CSI-RSs do not have adjacent coverage areas if two CSI-RSs overlap in the time domain (paragraphs [0209] – [0210]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Harada and Ma before him or her, to incorporate the device determining the spatial relationships as taught by Ma, to improve the terminal of Harada for the simultaneous reception in the overlapping time domain. The motivation for doing so would have been to increase the efficiency of beam management (paragraph [0209] of Ma).
Regarding claim 2, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 1, Harada discloses wherein the first capability comprises at least one of:
a capability of simultaneously receiving a plurality of reference signals of different types on the plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]);
a capability of simultaneously receiving a plurality of reference signals for different purposes on the plurality of reception beams (the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a capability of simultaneously receiving a plurality of reference signals having different configurations on the plurality of reception beams;
a capability of simultaneously receiving at least one reference signal and at least one channel on the plurality of reception beams;
a capability of respectively processing the plurality of signals through a plurality of baseband processing chains; or
a capability of respectively receiving the plurality of channels and/or signals through a plurality of radio frequency circuits.
Regarding claim 3, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 2, Harada discloses wherein the plurality of reference signals of different types comprise at least two of:
a Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB), a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), or a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]).
Regarding claim 4, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of reference signals for the different purposes comprises at least two of:
a Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) for Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
an SSB for Candidate Beam Detection (CBD);
an SSB for Beam Failure Detection (BFD) (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
an SSB for Layer 1 (L1)-Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) measurement (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
an SSB for L1-Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (L1-SINR) measurement (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
an SSB for Layer 3 (L3) measurement;
a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for the RLM (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a CSI-RS for the CBD;
a CSI-RS for the BFD (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a CSI-RS for the L1-RSRP measurement (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a CSI-RS for the L1-SINR measurement (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a CSI-RS for Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) measurement;
a CSI-RS for the L3 measurement;
a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) for RSRP measurement (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a PRS for Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]); or
a PRS for measurement for a time difference between reception and transmission of the terminal device.
Regarding claim 5, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 2, Harada disclose wherein the configuration of the reference signal comprises at least one of a sub-carrier spacing, a Resource Block (RB), a bandwidth, or a resource type (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]; different resource type measurements).
Regarding claim 6, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 2, Harada discloses wherein the at least one channel comprises a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and/or a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) (the control signal and reference signal processing unit receives controls signals, where the channel includes control channel (i.e. PDCCH) and data channel (i.e. PDSCH), paragraphs [0043] – [0049]).
Regarding claim 7, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 1, Harada discloses wherein the first scenario is the scenario in which the time-domain resources of the plurality of signals to be received overlap, and the determining, by the terminal device in case that the terminal device has the first capability, that there is no measurement restriction and/or scheduling availability in the first scenario comprises:
in case that the terminal device has the first capability, determining, by the terminal device if the terminal device meets a first condition, that there is no measurement restriction in the first scenario, wherein the first condition comprises at least one of following conditions:
the plurality of signals to be received are associated with a plurality of pieces of Quasi Co-Location (QCL) information of a QCL type D (the terminal includes terminal capability to associate with simultaneous reception or transmission on different beams (For example, SimultaneousReceptionDiffTypeD-r16, which indicates the ability to simultaneously receive data), paragraph [0071]);
the plurality of signals to be received are respectively associated with a plurality of different reception beams; or
the plurality of signals to be received are processed by a plurality of different baseband processing units.
Regarding claim 8, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 7, Harada discloses wherein
frequency-domain resources of the plurality of signals to be received belong to a same carrier or different carriers in a same band; or
the frequency-domain resources of the plurality of signals to be received are located in different Frequency Range 2 (FR2) bands, and the terminal device does not have an independent beam management capability (capability information indicating frequency bands (FR1, FR2, higher frequency bands, etc.) that is simultaneously received and/or transmitted, paragraph [0037]).
Regarding claim 9, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 7, Harada discloses wherein the determining, by the terminal device, that there is no measurement restriction in the first scenario if the terminal device meets the first condition comprises:
determining, by the terminal device, that there is no measurement restriction in the first scenario if the terminal device meets the first condition and a second condition,
wherein the second condition comprises following condition:
the plurality of signals to be received have a same sub-carrier spacing; or
the plurality of signals to be received have different sub-carrier spacings, and the terminal device has a capability of simultaneously processing signals having different sub-carrier spacings (the terminal simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, where the terminal capability is specified only for FR2 and/or higher high-frequency bands, paragraphs [0061] – [0062]).
Regarding claim 10, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 7, Harada discloses wherein the plurality of signals to be received comprises a Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) and a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]; the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]), or the plurality of signals to be received comprises a first CSI-RS and a second CSI-RS.
Regarding claim 11, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 9, Harada discloses wherein in case that the plurality of signals to be received comprises a first Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) and a second CSI-RS (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]), and the terminal device determines if the terminal device meets the first condition and the second condition that there is no measurement restriction in any of following sub-scenarios in the first scenario:
a resource of the first CSI-RS or the second CSI-RS is configured as a repetitive resource;
the first CSI-RS and/or the second CSI-RS is configured in a beam detection numerology, and a beam failure of the first CSI-RS and/or the second CSI-RS is detected (the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during the BFD operation, paragraphs [0065]); or
a type of QCL information associated with the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS is not the type D, or the QCL information of the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS is unknown information.
Regarding claim 12, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 1, Harada discloses wherein the first scenario is a scenario in which time-domain resources of at least one channel and at least one signal to be received overlap, and the determining, by the terminal device in case that the terminal device has the first capability, that there is no measurement restriction and/or scheduling availability in the first scenario comprises:
in case that the terminal device has the first capability, determining, by the terminal device if the terminal device meets a third condition, that there is no scheduling availability in the first scenario, wherein the third condition comprises at least one of following conditions:
the at least one channel to be received and the at least one signal to be received are respectively associated with a plurality of pieces of Quasi Co-Location (QCL) information of QCL type D, and a number of the at least one channel to be received is less than a number of the plurality of reception beams; or
the terminal device has a capability of simultaneously processing at least one reference signal and at least one channel having different sub-carrier spacings (the terminal simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, where the terminal capability is specified only for FR2 and/or higher high-frequency bands, paragraphs [0061] – [0062]).
Regarding claim 13, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 12, but Harada does not explicitly disclose further comprising:
in case that the terminal device has the first capability, determining, by the terminal device if the terminal device does not meet the third condition, not to receive or transmit on a first time-domain unit, and at least one time-domain unit before the first time-domain unit and/or at least one time-domain unit after the first time-domain unit, wherein the first time-domain unit is a time-domain unit in which the time-domain resources of the at least one signal and the at least one channel overlap.
Ma discloses the configuration is a first type of configuration in which each CSI-RS sent using a transmission beam occupies resources in the bandwidth part assigned to that transmission beam, where some of the reference signal resource groups overlap in the time domain while others are staggered in the time domain, where a second type of configuration that includes reference signal resource set is used, and the reference signal resource group 510-a and 510-d are overlapping in the time domain, and other reference signal resource groups are staggered in the time domain (paragraphs [0196] – [0199]). The staggered reference signal resource groups are not transmitted in the first time domain unit (i.e. third condition) when the overlapping reference signal resource group are transmitted in the first time domain unit (i.e. first condition).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Harada and Ma before him or her, to incorporate the device determining the reference signal resource group as taught by Ma, to improve the terminal of Harada for the simultaneous reception in the overlapping time domain. The motivation for doing so would have been to increase the efficiency of beam management (paragraph [0209] of Ma).
Regarding claim 14, Harada and Ma disclose that method of claim 1, Harada discloses further comprising:
transmitting, by the terminal device, device capability information, the device capability information indicating the first capability (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]).
Regarding claim 15, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 1, Harada discloses further comprising:
transmitting, by the terminal device, first indication information, the first indication information indicating at least one of:
a maximum number of the plurality of reception beams;
the plurality of reception beams being capable of simultaneous measurement (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]);
the plurality of reception beams being capable of simultaneous measurement and channel reception (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]);
a number of reception beams capable of measurement among the plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]);
a number of reception beams capable of Layer 1 (L1) measurement among the plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]);
a number of reception beams capable of Layer 3 (L3) measurement among the plurality of reception beams; or
a number of reception beams capable of the channel reception among the plurality of reception beams.
Regarding claim 16, Harada and Ma disclose the method of claim 1, Harada discloses wherein at least one of the terminal device, a band, or a band combination has the first capability (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]).
Regarding claim 17, Harada discloses a wireless communication method, comprising:
determining, by a network device in case that a terminal device has a first capability, that the terminal device has no measurement restriction and/or scheduling availability in a first scenario, wherein the first capability at least indicates that the terminal device is capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of channels and/or signals on a plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]; the terminal determines that it has capability of simultaneous transmission, and determines that it does not have scheduling constraints for RRM measurement (i.e. no measurement restriction), then transmits the capability information to the network).
However, Harada does not explicitly disclose “the first scenario is a scenario in which time-domain resources of the plurality of channels and/or signals to be received by the terminal device overlap.”
Ma discloses the device determines the spatial relationships for the one or more transmission beams, where the device determines the spatial relationships based on the temporal overlap of CSI-RSs, and the device infers that the transmission beams used for those CSI-RSs do not have adjacent coverage areas if two CSI-RSs overlap in the time domain (paragraphs [0209] – [0210]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Harada and Ma before him or her, to incorporate the device determining the spatial relationships as taught by Ma, to improve the terminal of Harada for the simultaneous reception in the overlapping time domain. The motivation for doing so would have been to increase the efficiency of beam management (paragraph [0209] of Ma).
Regarding claim 18, Harada discloses a terminal device comprising: a memory (the UE includes memory, Fig. 6, paragraph [0086]), a processor (the UE includes processor, Fig. 6, paragraph [0086]) and a transceiver (the UE includes communication device, Fig. 6, paragraph [0086]), wherein the transceiver is configured to communicate with a network device (the communication device is hardware (transmission/reception device) capable of performing communication between computers via a wired and/or wireless network, paragraph [0094]), the memory is configured to store a computer program executable on the processor (each function of the UE is realized by loading prescribed software (programs) on hardware such as processor and memory, so that the processor performs operations and controls communication by communication device, paragraphs [0089], [0091]), and the processor, when executing the program in conjunction with the transceiver (each function of the UE is realized by loading prescribed software (programs) on hardware such as processor and memory, so that the processor performs operations and controls communication by communication device, paragraphs [0089], [0091]), is configured to:
determine, in case that the terminal device has a first capability, that there is no measurement restriction and/or scheduling availability in a first scenario, wherein the first capability at least indicates that the terminal device is capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of channels and/or signals on a plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits capability information to the network indicating the capability of simultaneous reception, where the capability of the terminal to simultaneously perform other receiving operations with different beams while performing the RRM measuring operation is specified as capability information, and the terminal is not subject to scheduling constraints on other DL reception during RRM measurement operation, paragraphs [0056] – [0066]; the terminal determines that it has capability of simultaneous transmission, and determines that it does not have scheduling constraints for RRM measurement (i.e. no measurement restriction), then transmits the capability information to the network).
However, Harada does not explicitly disclose “the first scenario is a scenario in which time-domain resources of the plurality of channels and/or signals to be received by the terminal device overlap.”
Ma discloses the device determines the spatial relationships for the one or more transmission beams, where the device determines the spatial relationships based on the temporal overlap of CSI-RSs, and the device infers that the transmission beams used for those CSI-RSs do not have adjacent coverage areas if two CSI-RSs overlap in the time domain (paragraphs [0209] – [0210]).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Harada and Ma before him or her, to incorporate the device determining the spatial relationships as taught by Ma, to improve the terminal of Harada for the simultaneous reception in the overlapping time domain. The motivation for doing so would have been to increase the efficiency of beam management (paragraph [0209] of Ma).
Regarding claim 19, Harada and Ma disclose the terminal device of claim 18, Harada discloses wherein the first capability comprises at least one of:
a capability of simultaneously receiving a plurality of reference signals of different types on the plurality of reception beams (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]);
a capability of simultaneously receiving a plurality of reference signals for different purposes on the plurality of reception beams (the terminal having the terminal capability is not subjected to scheduling constraints on at least one other DL reception during the RLM operation, the BFD operation, the L1-RSRP/SINR measurement operation, or the Positioning measurement operation, paragraph [0065]);
a capability of simultaneously receiving a plurality of reference signals having different configurations on the plurality of reception beams;
a capability of simultaneously receiving at least one reference signal and at least one channel on the plurality of reception beams;
a capability of respectively processing the plurality of signals through a plurality of baseband processing chains; or
a capability of respectively receiving the plurality of channels and/or signals through a plurality of radio frequency circuits.
Regarding claim 20, Harada and Ma disclose the terminal device of claim 19, Harada discloses wherein the plurality of reference signals of different types comprise at least two of:
a Synchronization Signal/Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB), a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), or a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) (the UE transmits and receives radio signals, where the radio signal transmission and reception unit in the UE receives reference signal (CRS, CSI-RS, SSB, paragraph [0032]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
ZHOU et al (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0121938) – the UE transmits a capability message indicating at least one of parameters associated with one or more beam management features or whether the UE supports the one or more beam management features, the one or more beam management features including a unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, inter-cell beam measurements, antenna-panel-specific uplink transmissions, or multiple transmission reception point (TRP) beam failure recovery, and the UE receives configuration information for at least one beam management feature based at least in part on transmitting the capability message
Jiwon KANG (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0132757) – the terminal measures a beam on the basis of at least one wireless unit including resources and a plurality of antennas related to beam management, reports a result of the beam measurement to a base station, and simultaneously transmits/receives an uplink signal and a downlink signal to/from the base station on the basis of first beam pair information when the simultaneous transmission/reception of the uplink signal and the downlink signal on the same symbol to/from the base station is configured
MATSUMURA et al (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0121938) – the terminal includes a control section that assumes that a plurality of signals of different specific quasi-co-location (QCL) types are scheduled or configured in a same time domain in a frequency range higher than a first frequency range, and a transmitting/receiving section that transmits or receives the plurality of signals in the same time domain
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAI J CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5448. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marcus Smith can be reached at (571)270-1096. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Kai Chang/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/Thomas R Cairns/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
