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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/16/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 1, 7, 12, 16, 21, 24-25, and 28, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The independent claims 1, 12, 21, and 25, have been amended to recite, in part:
“first information configuring physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources associated with a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) for a unicast physical downlink shared channel,
…… an activated semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) multicast PDSCH,
…….. downlink control information (DCI) indicating a release for SPS multicast PDSCH receptions,
……. second HARQ-ACK information associated with the DCI on second PUCCH resource,
wherein the PUCCH resources associated with HARQ-ACK for the unicast PDSCH include the first PUCCH resource and the second PUCCH resource.
The specification does not disclose this feature. For example, claims recite PUCCH resources for a unicast transmission, how then are multicast PUCCH resource included in the unicast PUCCH resources. Applicant allegation in remarks dated 06/16/2026 pg.6 generally allege that the specification as filed discloses these features without directing the office to where in the specification these features are taught. After reviewing the specification as filed, see Fu et al. (US 2023/0133238 A1), the following paragraphs pertain to reception HARQ-ACK feedback modes, and the PUCCH resources configured for said feedback.
Par.[0216] describes two modes of feeding back HARQ ACK/NACK. Par.[0217 – 0219] describes NACK only, and ACK/NACK feedback on a PUCCH resource. Par.[0219] describes the different PDSCHs which the UE may receive, unicast and multicast. Par.[0224] describes the use of NACK only HARQ feedback to reserve resources. That is, instead of transmitting HARQ feedback when the UE successfully decodes and/or unsuccessfully decodes the PDSCH, it will save resources by only sending NACK indicating that the PDSCH was incorrectly decoded.
Par.[0235] describes PUCCH-Config-1 and PUCCH-Config-2 wherein PUCCH-Config-1 is related to HARQ ACK/NACK, and the UE can have a separate PUCCH resource PUCCH-Config-2 which is used for unicast PDSCH. Additionally, the resource for unicast and SPS are separate. For example, par.[0238] teaches that when the UE feeds back HARQ-ACK for activated semi-persistent SPS PDSCHs or DCI for SPS release it can use PUCCH-Config-2, and par.[0240], which uses PUCCH-Config-3 which is specially configured for the UE to transmit the HARQ-ACK information. Par.[0242 - 0243] further teaches specially configured HARQ-ACK for SPS. Par.[0244] describes three distinct uplink PUCCH resources for transmitting HARQ-ACK, which can be used for different uplink HARQ-ACK transmissions. First, there is no indication that the UE is configured with all three types of HARQ-ACK PUCCH resources, instead it appears that the UE is configured with one or the other.
For example, when UE is configured with PUCCH-Config-2 it can operate in method 2 as discussed in par.[0249 – 0250] which teaches that the UE, when using PUCCH type 2 resources can transmit feedback for SPS PDSCH or DCI which indicates PDSCH reception, and the HARQ ACK information of other PDSCHs in an ACK/NACK mode. It is clear that when the UE is able to transmit HARQ-ACK for SPS activated PDSCH, PDCCH/DCI for SPS PDSCH, and other types of PDSCH it utilizes a single PUCCH resource, as discussed the PUCCH-Config-2, and not the first and second PUCCH resources as discussed. Additionally, the DCI as discussed in par.[0249 – 0250] which may be associated with unicast HARQ, it does not disclose that PDCCH/DCI is for SPS release, instead the par.[0250] recites, in part:
“The UE feeds back the HARQ-ACK information of the activated semi-persistent SPS PDSCHs (i.e., SPS activation PDSCHs) or the HARQ-ACK information of the PDCCHs indicating SPS PDSCHs and the HARQ-ACK information of other PDSCHs in an ACK/NACK mode.”
As can be seen, the PUCCH resource in PUCCH-Config-2 when used for unicast, multicast, SPS activation, and PDCCH/DCI indicating SPS PDSCH in PUCCH-Config-2 does not include the SPS release as claimed. See, “receiving, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) indicating a release for SPS multicast PDSCH reception,…….
transmitting, to the base station, second HARQ-ACK information associated with activated SPS multicast PDSCH on a first PUCCH resource;
transmitting, to the base station, second HARQ-ACK information associated with the DCI on second PUCCH resource…..
wherein the PUCCH resources associated with the HARQ-ACK for the unicast PDSCH include the first PUCCH resource and the second PUCCH resource”.
As can be seen the PDCCH/DCI SPS release PUCCH HARQ-ACK resource can correspond to the unicast resource or the other multicast SPS because the applicants specification at par.[0250] recites “or the HARQ-ACK information of the PDCCHs indicating SPS PDSCHs”, and not release of the SPS as claimed.
Additionally, there is no explicit recitation of activated multicast SPS or inherent teaching of multicast SPS within the applicants disclosure. There is no indication in the specification that SPS is used for multicast transmissions.
The dependent claims 7, 16, 24, and 28, are rejected for their dependency on the independent claims above, and for failing to cure the deficiencies therein.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 7, 12, 16, 21, 24-25, and 28, have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMAAL HENSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5339. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thu: 7:30 am - 6:30 pm.
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JAMAAL HENSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2411
/JAMAAL HENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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