Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 25, 2026
Application No. 17/753,649

ENHANCED PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL SPATIAL RELATION INFORMATION IN MAC CE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 10, 2022
Priority
Oct 15, 2019 — CN PCT/CN2019/111187 +1 more
Examiner
JANGBAHADUR, LAKERAM
Art Unit
2469
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
5 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
5-6
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allowance Rate
650 granted / 744 resolved
+29.4% vs TC avg
Strong +26% interview lift
Without
With
+25.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
54 currently pending
Career history
798
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.0%
-38.0% vs TC avg
§103
59.0%
+19.0% vs TC avg
§102
11.5%
-28.5% vs TC avg
§112
19.1%
-20.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 744 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . DETAILED ACTION Claims 1-15 and 17-25 are presented for examination. Claims 1, 7, 11 and 19 are amended. Claim 16 canceled. Claim 25 new. Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after Final Rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/10/2025 has been entered. Response to Arguments Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 applicant’s arguments, see page 11 paragraph 2, filed November 26, 2025, with respect to claims 1-15 and 17-24 have been fully considered and are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 7, 11 and 19 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the reference being used in the current rejection. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Hence a new ground of rejection is further presented in view of Cirik (US Pub, No.:2021/0105765). Notice re prior art available under both pre-AIA and 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. 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 1-2, 5-12, 16-20 and 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VIVO ( "Further discussion on Multi-Beam Operation" ,3GPP DRAFT; R1-1908167_FURTHER DISCUSSION ON MULTI-BEAM OPERATION, 08/2019), in view of Grant et al (US Pub.:2020/0119778) and further in view of Cirik (US Pub, No.:2021/0105765). As per claim 1, VIVO disclose A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a medium access control (MAC) command element (CE) indicating an update to a spatial relation configuration of the UE for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions, the update indicated by PUCCH resource information (see Section 2, for the supported feature of simultaneous update/indication of a single spatial relation per group of PUCCH by using one MAC CE", "the PUCCH spatial relations configured/updated by RRC/MAC CE can also be shared by multiple BWPs or multiple CCs") that includes: a PUCCH resource identifier that identifies a PUCCH resource, (see section 2, a bitmap is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources in a BWP and their single spatial relation in the MAC CE which includes 128 bits for all PUCCH resources in a BWP, see also Proposal 1: a bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation); a PUCCH identifier that identifies a particular spatial relation configuration and wherein the particular spatial relation configuration includes spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH resource (see Section 2, "When the spatial relation of AP-SRS for CB/NCB UL is activated by MAC-CE, UL power control parameters for PUSCH can be activated via the MAC-CE”. Activation of spatial relation is performed according to spatial settings, see also Proposal 1: A bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation); updating the spatial relation configuration of the UE in accordance with the PUCCH resource information (see Section 2, "When the spatial relation of AP-SRS for CB/NCB UL is activated by MAC-CE, UL power control parameters for PUSCH is activated via the MAC-CE". Activation of spatial relation is performed according to spatial settings, see also section 2-6, a bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation); and transmitting a PUCCH transmission using the spatial relation configuration (see Section 2, Section 3, "For DL channel, gNB activates a TCI state by MAC CE for PDCCH reception or indicates a TCI state by DCI for POSCH reception, where the source RS associated with a UE panel having higher reception performance is included in TCI state based on beam reporting. For this implicit panel indication for DL reception, there is not spec impact. For UL channel, explicit indication of panel ID is not required for all channels. For PUCCH/PUSCH transmission, a SRI or DL RS index associated with a 'better' UE panel is activated by MAC CE of indicated by DCI as spatial relation. For codebook based or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission, SRI is used as spatial relation information. The SRS resource can be used to implicitly indicate the UE panel ID, e.g. the SRS resource, see also Proposal 11). Although Vivo disclose the PUCCH resource information including a PUCCH resource identifier that identifies a PUCCH resource; Vivo however does not explicitly disclose a bitmap including a plurality of spatial relation configurations, wherein the bitmap identifies a value corresponding to a particular spatial relation configuration of the plurality of spatial relation configurations; Grant however disclose a bitmap including a plurality of spatial relation configurations, wherein the bitmap identifies a value corresponding to a particular spatial relation configuration of the plurality of spatial relation configurations and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH resource (see Fig.2-3, para. 0056, 0059, 0064, Fig.4, para. 0070-0072, 0074-0078, a PUCCH Spatial Group is indicated by a subset of bits {bitmap} used to indicate the PUCCH resource ID, when the number of PUCCH Spatial Groups is K, the log.sub.2(K) most significant bits (MSBs) of the PUCCH resource ID indicates the PUCCH Spatial Group ID. Referring to FIG. 2, when K=4, a PUCCH Spatial Group ID is indicated by bits b6-b5 of Octet 2. When receiving a MAC-CE message according to this format, the UE applies the spatial relation indicated by Spatial Relation ID (i.e., bits b2-b0 of Octet 1) to all configured PUCCH resources associated with the PUCCH Spatial Group ID indicated by b6-b5 of Octet 1, clearly the plurality of second octets is different from the first octet, see also para. 0086-0089, 0096-0100, the resource identifier comprises one of: 1) a first value indicating that the first spatial relation applies to all of the configured PUCCH resources, and in other embodiments, the resource identifier comprises one of: 1) one of a plurality of first values, each first value identifying a particular group of the configured PUCCH resource to which the first spatial relation applies). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a bitmap including a plurality of spatial relation configurations, wherein the bitmap identifies a value corresponding to a particular spatial relation configuration of the plurality of spatial relation configurations, as taught by Grant, in the system of VIVO, so as to provide a flexible and efficient approach for indicating PUCCH spatial relations over MAC-CE when a common spatial relation indicator is shared by multiple PUCCH resources, see Grant, paragraphs 0062-0063. The combination of VIVO and Grant however does not explicitly disclose a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations; Cirik however disclose a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations (see para. 0423-0427, the wireless device receive one or more messages comprising one or more configuration parameters, and transmitting the one or more uplink signals with the spatial domain transmission filter is until receiving one or more activation commands activating one or more spatial relations for the one or more PUCCH resources / a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations, and wherein the particular spatial relation configuration includes spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH (see para. 0427, the transmitting the one or more uplink signals with the transmission power is until receiving one or more activation commands activating one or more spatial relations, for the one or more PUCCH resources, the spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH, see also para. 0357). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations, as taught by Cirik, in the system of Vivo and Grant, so as to provide increased efficiencies for communications between the wireless device and the base station, see Cirik, paragraphs 0004, 0357, 0423. As per claim 2, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 1. VIVO further disclose wherein a value corresponds to a spatial relation identifier that identifies the particular spatial relation configuration (see section 2-6, a bitmap/value in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation); and Grant further disclose wherein the value corresponds to a spatial relation identifier that identifies the particular spatial relation configuration (see Fig. 2, 4, 5, 7, para. 0072, 0076-0078, a PUCCH Spatial Group can be indicated by a subset of bits used to indicate the PUCCH resource ID. For example, when the number of PUCCH Spatial Groups is K, the log.sub.2(K) most significant bits (MSBs) of the PUCCH resource ID can indicate the PUCCH Spatial Group ID. Referring to FIG. 2, when K=4, a PUCCH Spatial Group ID can be indicated by bits b6-b5 of Octet 2. When receiving a MAC-CE message according to this format, the UE can apply the spatial relation indicated by Spatial Relation ID (i.e., bits b2-b0 of Octet 1) to all configured PUCCH resources associated with the PUCCH Spatial Group ID indicated by b6-b5 of Octet 1, and in the arrangement shown in FIG. 7, bits b2-b0 of Octet 1 indicates the Spatial Relation ID for PUCCH Spatial Group 1 and bits b5-b3 of Octet 1 indicates the Spatial Relation ID for PUCCH Spatial Group 2. Note that to indicate Spatial Relation to more than two PUCCH Spatial Groups, more than one octet is needed within a MAC CE message for this purpose, see also para. 0074) As per claim 5, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 1. VIVO further disclose wherein the update is an activation update to the spatial relation configuration (see Section 2-6, where MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 can be reused, e.g. the reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, and MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 to indicate the spatial relation of PUCCH resource group). As per claim 6, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 1. VIVO further disclose wherein the update is a deactivation update to the spatial relation configuration (see Section 2-6. where MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 can be reused, e.g. the reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, and MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 to indicate the spatial relation of PUCCH resource group). As per claim 7, VIVO disclose A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) (see section 3, UE), comprising: receiving a medium access control (MAC) command element (CE) indicating an update to a spatial relation configuration of the UE for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmissions, the update indicated by PUCCH resource information (see Section 2, for the supported feature of simultaneous update/indication of a single spatial relation per group of PUCCH by using one MAC CE", "the PUCCH spatial relations configured/updated by RRC/MAC CE can also be shared by multiple BWPs or multiple CCs") that includes, a PUCCH resource identifier that identifies a PUCCH resource (see Section 2, "When the spatial relation of AP-SRS for CB/NCB UL is activated by MAC-CE, UL power control parameters for PUSCH can be activated via the MAC-CE". Activation of spatial relation is performed according to spatial setting, see also section 2, a bitmap is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources in a BWP and their single spatial relation in the MAC CE which includes 128 bits for all PUCCH resources in a BWP, see also Proposal 1: a bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation); a PUCCH identifier that identifies a particular spatial relation configuration and wherein the particular spatial relation configuration includes spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH resource (see Section 2, "When the spatial relation of AP-SRS for CB/NCB UL is activated by MAC-CE, UL power control parameters for PUSCH can be activated via the MAC-CE”. Activation of spatial relation is performed according to spatial settings, see also Proposal 1: A bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation); updating the spatial relation configuration of the UE in accordance with the PUCCH resource information (see Section 2, "When the spatial relation of AP-SRS for CB/NCB UL is activated by MAC-CE, UL power control parameters for PUSCH is activated via the MAC-CE". Activation of spatial relation is performed according to spatial settings, see also section 2-6, a bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation) and transmitting a PUCCH transmission using the spatial relation configuration (see Section 2, Section 3, "For DL channel, gNB activates a TCI state by MAC CE for PDCCH reception or indicates a TCI state by DCI for POSCH reception, where the source RS associated with a UE panel having higher reception performance is included in TCI state based on beam reporting. For this implicit panel indication for DL reception, there is not spec impact. For UL channel, explicit indication of panel ID is not required for all channels. For PUCCH/PUSCH transmission, a SRI or DL RS index associated with a 'better' UE panel is activated by MAC CE of indicated by DCI as spatial relation. For codebook based or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission, SRI is used as spatial relation information. The SRS resource can be used to implicitly indicate the UE panel ID, e.g. the SRS resource, see also Proposal 11). Although Vivo disclose the PUCCH resource information including a PUCCH resource identifier that identifies a PUCCH resource; Vivo however does not explicitly disclose a bitmap including a plurality of spatial relation configurations, wherein the bitmap identifies a value corresponding to a particular spatial relation configuration of the plurality of spatial relation configurations; Grant however disclose a bitmap including a plurality of spatial relation configurations, wherein the bitmap identifies a value corresponding to a particular spatial relation configuration of the plurality of spatial relation configurations and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH resource (see Fig.2-3, para. 0056, 0059, 0064, Fig.4, para. 0070-0072, 0074-0078, a PUCCH Spatial Group is indicated by a subset of bits {bitmap} used to indicate the PUCCH resource ID, when the number of PUCCH Spatial Groups is K, the log.sub.2(K) most significant bits (MSBs) of the PUCCH resource ID indicates the PUCCH Spatial Group ID. Referring to FIG. 2, when K=4, a PUCCH Spatial Group ID is indicated by bits b6-b5 of Octet 2. When receiving a MAC-CE message according to this format, the UE applies the spatial relation indicated by Spatial Relation ID (i.e., bits b2-b0 of Octet 1) to all configured PUCCH resources associated with the PUCCH Spatial Group ID indicated by b6-b5 of Octet 1, clearly the plurality of second octets is different from the first octet, see also para. 0086-0089, 0096-0100, the resource identifier comprises one of: 1) a first value indicating that the first spatial relation applies to all of the configured PUCCH resources, and in other embodiments, the resource identifier comprises one of: 1) one of a plurality of first values, each first value identifying a particular group of the configured PUCCH resource to which the first spatial relation applies). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a bitmap including a plurality of spatial relation configurations, wherein the bitmap identifies a value corresponding to a particular spatial relation configuration of the plurality of spatial relation configurations, as taught by Grant, in the system of VIVO, so as to provide a flexible and efficient approach for indicating PUCCH spatial relations over MAC-CE when a common spatial relation indicator is shared by multiple PUCCH resources, see Grant, paragraphs 0062-0063. The combination of VIVO and Grant however does not explicitly disclose a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations; Cirik however disclose a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations (see para. 0423-0427, the wireless device receive one or more messages comprising one or more configuration parameters, and transmitting the one or more uplink signals with the spatial domain transmission filter is until receiving one or more activation commands activating one or more spatial relations for the one or more PUCCH resources / a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations, and wherein the particular spatial relation configuration includes spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH (see para. 0427, the transmitting the one or more uplink signals with the transmission power is until receiving one or more activation commands activating one or more spatial relations, for the one or more PUCCH resources, the spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH, see also para. 0357). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a plurality of candidate spatial relation configurations, as taught by Cirik, in the system of Vivo and Grant, so as to provide increased efficiencies for communications between the wireless device and the base station, see Cirik, paragraphs 0004, 0357, 0423. As per claim 8, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 7. VIVO further disclose wherein the group PUCCH resource information identifies a plurality of PUCCH groups and a plurality of spatial relation identifiers, each PUCCH group corresponding to a respective spatial relation identifier (see section 2-6, a bitmap in the MAC CE is used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources and their spatial relation). As per claim 9, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 7. VIVO further disclose wherein the update is an activation update to the spatial relation configuration (see Section 2-6, where MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 can be reused, e.g. the reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, and MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 to indicate the spatial relation of PUCCH resource group). As per claim 10, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 7. VIVO further disclose wherein the update is a deactivation update to the spatial relation configuration(see Section 2-6. where MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 can be reused, e.g. the reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, and MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 to indicate the spatial relation of PUCCH resource group). As per claim 11, claim 11 (Base Station method) contains technical features corresponding to the technical features of independent claim 1(UE method) and is rejected the same way as claim 1. As per claim 12, claim 12 is rejected the same way as claim 2. As per claim 16, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 11. VIVO further disclose wherein the bitmap includes configurations of spatial settings and power control parameters for transmission on the PUCCH resource (see section 2, to reduce RRC signalling overhead and latency, a bitmap can be used to indicate multiple PUCCH resources in a BWP and their single spatial relation in the MAC CE which may include 128 bits for all PUCCH resources in a BWP and does not affect RRC spec, see also section 3, from the point of view of panel alignment between gNB and UE, the beam reporting enhancement is used for UE power saving, based on beam report, gNB indicates UE to measure CSI only for activated panel and schedules data transmission on the activated panel for power saving). As per claim 17, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 11. VIVO further disclose wherein the update is an activation update to the spatial relation configuration (see Section 2-6, where MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 can be reused, e.g. the reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, and MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 to indicate the spatial relation of PUCCH resource group). As per claim 18, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 11. VIVO further disclose wherein the update is a deactivation update to the spatial relation configuration(see Section 2-6. where MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 can be reused, e.g. the reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, and MAC CE for PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation in Rel-15 to indicate the spatial relation of PUCCH resource group). As per claim 19, claim 19 is rejected the same way as claim 1. VIVO also disclose A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (see Section 2, Section 3, UE), comprising: a memory (see Section 2, Section 3, UE with a memory for storing); and one or more processors (see Section 2, Section 3, UE with a CPU/a processor). As per claim 20, claim 20 is rejected the same way as claim 2. As per claim 23, claim 23 is rejected the same way as claim 5. As per claim 24, claim 24 is rejected the same way as claim 6. Claims 3-4, 13-15 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VIVO ( "Further discussion on Mu1ti-Beam Operation" ,3GPP DRAFT; R1-1908167_FURTHER DISCUSSION ON MULTI-BEAM OPERATION, 08/2019), in view of Grant et al (US Pub.:2020/0119778), in view of Cirik (US Pub, No.:2021/0105765)and further in view of Intel (Discussion on multi-beam enhancements, R1-1908654, 08/2019). As per claim 3, the combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose the method of claim 1. The combination of VIVO, Grant and Cirik disclose however does not explicitly disclose wherein the PUCCH resource information includes a plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers and respective identification information for each of the plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers. Intel however disclose wherein a PUCCH resource information includes a plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers and respective identification information for each of the plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers (see Section 2, • PUCCH resource group is explicitly configured by RRC o FFS whether PUCCH resource ID should be associated with at most one PUCCH group • Retain capability in MAC for updating spatial relation info for PUCCH on resource level in addition to PUCCH group level and regarding number of PUCCH groups. Considering that most of the multi-TRP deployment scenarios consider two TRP transmission to the UE, support of two PUCCH groups seems sufficient). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein a PUCCH resource information includes a plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers and respective identification information for each of the plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers, as taught by Intel, in the system of VIVO, Grant and Cirik, so as to enable the supported feature of simultaneous update/indication of a single spatial relation per group of PUCCH by using one MAC CE, see Intel, section 2.2. As per claim 4, the combination of VIVO, Grant, Cirik and Intel disclose the method of claim 3. VIVO further disclose wherein identification information for at least one of the plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers is different than identification information for another at least one of the plurality of PUCCH resource identifiers (see section 2-6, transmit information in a dedicated SR-like PUCCH resource using PUCCH format O and HARQ-ACK information bits in a resource using PUCCH format 1 in a slot, for which the UE transmits only the dedicated SR-like PUCCH resource, different than identification information). As per claim 13, claim 13 is rejected the same way as claim 3. As per claim 14, claim 14 is rejected the same way as claim 4. As per claim 15, the combination of VIVO, Grant, Cirik and Intel disclose the method of claim 13. VIVO further disclose wherein the PUCCH resource information includes a bit that indicates whether identification information is present for a next PUCCH resource identifier in the MAC CE (see section 2, a reserved bit is used to indicate the spatial relation for PUCCH resource or for PUCCH resource group, next PUCCH resource identifier in the MAC CE). As per claim 21, claim 21 is rejected the same way as claim 3. As per claim 22, claim 22 is rejected the same way as claim 4. Allowable Subject Matter Claim 25 is 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. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhou et al (US Pub. No.:2020/0389887) – see para. 0059, “ The spatial relationship determination method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes: receiving the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource configuration information sent by the base station, the PUCCH resource configuration information indicating a PUCCH resource; determining the target QCL required when using the PUCCH resource according to the predefined spatial relationship QCL or according to the downlink media access control layer control element (MAC CE) sent by the base station, thereby solving the problem of how to determine the QCL required when using the PUCCH resource if the terminal is newly configured a PUCCH resource; moreover, the method of the present disclosure can flexibly change the QCL required when using the PUCCH resource, thus having a higher flexibility in the spatial relationship configuration of resources”. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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Prosecution Timeline

Show 16 earlier events
Sep 24, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Nov 06, 2025
Interview Requested
Nov 14, 2025
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Nov 24, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Nov 26, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Dec 10, 2025
Request for Continued Examination
Dec 19, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 09, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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5-6
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
99%
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2y 7m (~0m remaining)
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