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 .
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by D1 (WO 2021243675 A1, FOR dated 9/19/25, 62 pages).
For claim 1, D1 discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising:
releasing, by a terminal device, a resource associated with a first parameter, in response to a timer corresponding to a first timing advance group (TAG) expiring (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “First timer 540” in FIG. 8 in view of [0101] … Performing the one or more timer expiration operations may include transmitting an RRC request to release one or more SRS configurations 806 associated with serving cells of the STAG … [0102] … the UE 115 may perform the one or more timer expiration operations on a panel-specific basis. In an illustrative example, the first timer 540 is associated with a particular antenna panel of the UE 115, such as the first antenna panel 432. … the particular antenna panel is associated with a panel ID 814 …” note that panel ID 814 may be interpreted as a first parameter), wherein the first parameter is associated with the first TAG, and the first parameter comprises at least one of:
a first transmission configuration indication (TCI) state,
first spatial relation information,
a first control resource set pool index, and
a first uplink radio resource control (RRC) parameter ([0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identity, or a first SRS resource set identity. …”, [0048] “… A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) …” and [0104] “In some examples, the panel ID 814 may be determined or indicated explicitly, such as by including the panel ID 814 in a message, such as an RRC message. For example, an RRC message provided by the UE 115 to the particular serving cell (or vice versa) using the first antenna panel 432 may designate the first antenna panel 432 as corresponding to the panel ID 814. In other examples, the panel ID 814 may be "inferred" using other signals or information, which may avoid transmission of one or more messages (e.g., RRC messages) in some cases. To illustrate, in some examples, the panel ID 814 is determined using one or more of a TAG ID, a control resource set (CORESET) pool index ID, or an SRS resource set ID”).
For claim 10, D1 discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, by a network device, first configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the first configuration information is configured to configure a first association, and the first association is an association between a timing advance group (TAG) (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “First timer 540” in FIG. 8 in view of [0101] … Performing the one or more timer expiration operations may include transmitting an RRC request to release one or more SRS configurations 806 associated with serving cells of the STAG … [0102] … the UE 115 may perform the one or more timer expiration operations on a panel-specific basis. In an illustrative example, the first timer 540 is associated with a particular antenna panel of the UE 115, such as the first antenna panel 432. … the particular antenna panel is associated with a panel ID 814 …”) and at least one of following parameters:
a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, spatial relation information, a control resource set pool index, and an uplink radio resource control (RRC) parameter ([0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identity, or a first SRS resource set identity. …”, [0048] “… A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) …” and [0104] “In some examples, the panel ID 814 may be determined or indicated explicitly, such as by including the panel ID 814 in a message, such as an RRC message. For example, an RRC message provided by the UE 115 to the particular serving cell (or vice versa) using the first antenna panel 432 may designate the first antenna panel 432 as corresponding to the panel ID 814. In other examples, the panel ID 814 may be "inferred" using other signals or information, which may avoid transmission of one or more messages (e.g., RRC messages) in some cases. To illustrate, in some examples, the panel ID 814 is determined using one or more of a TAG ID, a control resource set (CORESET) pool index ID, or an SRS resource set ID”; note that panel ID 814 may be interpreted as a first parameter).
Claim 16 is rejected because it is a generic terminal device that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
As to claims 2, 12 and 17, D1 discloses claims 1, 11 and 16, D1 further discloses: wherein the first TCI state comprises a first uplink TCI state or a first joint TCI state (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as [0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), …” and “[0050] On the uplink, at the UE 115, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. … ”).
As to claims 3 and 18, D1 discloses claims 2 and 17, D1 further discloses: wherein the resource associated with the first parameter comprises a pre-configured physical uplink shared channel PUSCH resource that the first TCI state is applied to (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “ [0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), …” and “[0050] On the uplink, at the UE 115, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. … ” and “[0101] … Performing the one or more timer expiration operations may include transmitting an RRC request to release one or more SRS configurations 806 associated with serving cells of the STAG …” in view of the parent claims; note that configuration suggests PUSCH is pre-configured).
As to claims 4 and 19, D1 discloses claims 3 and 18, D1 further discloses: wherein the pre-configured PUSCH resource comprises a PUSCH resource carrying a configured uplink grant and/or a PUSCH resource for semi-persistent channel state information CSI reporting (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “[0100] … Performing the one or more timer expiration operations may include clearing one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) configurations 812 for semi-persistent channel state information (CSI) reporting. …”; note that configuration suggests PUSCH is pre-configured).
As to claims 5, 13 and 20, D1 discloses claims 1, 11 and 16, D1 further discloses: wherein the first TCI state comprises a first downlink TCI state or a first joint TCI state (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as [0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), …” and “[0004] … A UE may communicate with a base station via downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.”).
As to claim 6, D1 discloses claim 5, D1 further discloses: wherein the resource associated with the first parameter comprises a pre-configured PDSCH resource that the first TCI state is applied to (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “[0046] … FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a design of a base station 105 and a UE 115, … The data may be for the PDSCH, etc.” and [0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as … a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), …”).
As to claim 7, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses:
wherein a serving cell of the terminal device is associated with at least two TAGs, a first TAG being one of the at least two TAGs, and releasing, by the terminal device, the resource associated with the first parameter, in response to the timer corresponding to the first TAG expiring, comprises:
releasing, by the terminal device, only a resource associated with the first parameter associated with the first TAG, in response to the timer corresponding to the first TAG expiring and a timer corresponding to a TAG other than the first TAG in the at least two TAGs not expiring (“[0006] … The method further includes, during operation of the timer, receiving, by the UE from the serving cell, a second TAC associated with a second antenna panel of the UE and with a second TAG. The method further includes determining, based on the second TAC indicating the second TAG, whether to reset the timer.” in view of the parent claim).
As to claim 8, D1 discloses claim 7, D1 further discloses: wherein the first TAG is a primary timing advance group (PTAG) in the at least two TAGs (“[0099] … the UE 115 may selectively perform one or more timer expiration operations based on whether the particular serving cell is included in a primary timing advance group (PTAG) of the UE 115 or in a secondary timing advance group (STAG) of the UE 115. To illustrate, in some examples, the first TAG 402 corresponds to the PTAG, and the second TAG 412 corresponds to the STAG (or vice versa) . The PTAG may include a primary serving cell that provides radio resource control (RRC) messages to the UE 115. As used herein, if the particular serving cell is associated with at least one timer of a PTAG of the UE 115, the particular serving cell may be referred to as being included in a PTAG of the UE 115. In some other cases, if the particular serving cell is not associated with at least one timer of a PTAG of the UE 115, the particular serving cell may be referred to as being included in an STAG of the UE 115. In some examples, the UE 115 performs the one or more timer expiration operations for multiple TAGs (e.g., both the PTAG and the STAG) if the particular serving cell is included in the PTAG and performs timer expiration operations for one TAG (e.g., the STAG but not the PTAG) if the particular serving cell is included in the PTAG.”).
As to claim 9, D1 discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein releasing, by the terminal device, the resource associated with the first parameter comprises:
determining, by the terminal device, an uplink TCI state or joint TCI state associated with the first TAG (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “[0080] … the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), …);
determining, by the terminal device, an uplink resource associated with the uplink TCI state or joint TCI state; and releasing, by the terminal device, the uplink resource determined (FIGs. 1-13 and the associated text, such as “[0080] … the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), …” and “[0004] … A UE may communicate with a base station via downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.”).
As to claim 11, D1 discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses: wherein the first association comprises an association between a first TCI state and a first parameter, wherein the first parameter comprises at least one of: a first TCI state, first spatial relation information, a first control resource set pool index, and a first uplink RRC parameter ([0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identity, or a first SRS resource set identity. …”, [0048] “… A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) …” and [0104] “In some examples, the panel ID 814 may be determined or indicated explicitly, such as by including the panel ID 814 in a message, such as an RRC message. For example, an RRC message provided by the UE 115 to the particular serving cell (or vice versa) using the first antenna panel 432 may designate the first antenna panel 432 as corresponding to the panel ID 814. In other examples, the panel ID 814 may be "inferred" using other signals or information, which may avoid transmission of one or more messages (e.g., RRC messages) in some cases. To illustrate, in some examples, the panel ID 814 is determined using one or more of a TAG ID, a control resource set (CORESET) pool index ID, or an SRS resource set ID”).
As to claim 14, D1 discloses claim 11, D1 further discloses: wherein the first spatial relation information comprises first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) spatial relation information and/or first sounding reference signal (SRS) spatial relation information ([0080] “… the first antenna panel 432 may indicate a first parameter, such as one or more of a first control resource set (CORESET) pool index, a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI), a first sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identity, or a first SRS resource set identity. …”, [0048] “… A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) …”, “[0050] On the uplink, at the UE 115, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. … ”, and [0104] “In some examples, the panel ID 814 may be determined or indicated explicitly, such as by including the panel ID 814 in a message, such as an RRC message. For example, an RRC message provided by the UE 115 to the particular serving cell (or vice versa) using the first antenna panel 432 may designate the first antenna panel 432 as corresponding to the panel ID 814. In other examples, the panel ID 814 may be "inferred" using other signals or information, which may avoid transmission of one or more messages (e.g., RRC messages) in some cases. To illustrate, in some examples, the panel ID 814 is determined using one or more of a TAG ID, a control resource set (CORESET) pool index ID, or an SRS resource set ID”).
As to claim 15, D1 discloses claim 10, D1 further discloses: wherein the first configuration information is transmitted via at least one of following signaling: a system message, RRC signaling, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and downlink control information (DCI) (“[0079] … a MAC-CE may indicate both the first TAC 406 and the second TAC 416.”, or “[0104] “In some examples, the panel ID 814 may be determined or indicated explicitly, such as by including the panel ID 814 in a message, such as an RRC message. …”, or “[0004] A base station may transmit data and control information on the downlink to a UE and/or may receive data and control information on the uplink from the UE …”; or [0104] “In some examples, the panel ID 814 may be determined or indicated explicitly, such as by including the panel ID 814 in a message, such as an RRC message.”).
Conclusion
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
