Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/294,430

USER EQUIPMENT AND METHOD FOR HANDLING HYBRID AUTOMATIC REPEAT REQUEST-ACKNOWLEDGMENT CODEBOOK TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Feb 01, 2024
Examiner
WILLIAMS, ELTON S
Art Unit
2465
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
78%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
87%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 78% — above average
78%
Career Allow Rate
333 granted / 427 resolved
+20.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+8.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
451
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.2%
-36.8% vs TC avg
§103
55.9%
+15.9% vs TC avg
§102
21.8%
-18.2% vs TC avg
§112
9.2%
-30.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 427 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION This office action is in response to the application filed on 2/1/2024 in which claims 1-13 are pending. 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. Claim(s) 1-3, and 6-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US20220116972A1). As to claims 1, 8, 9, and 13, Liu teaches a method for handling hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgment (ACK) codebook transmission performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: ([0125] When transmitting the ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., for PDSCH with repetitions), the UE 115 may use a HARQ-ACK codebook.) receiving, from a base station (BS), a first configuration for unicast semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a second configuration for multicast SPS PDSCH, and a third configuration for unicast PDSCH; ([0060] the base station may configure the UE with a repetition configuration (e.g., including a pdsch-AggregationFactor parameter, a RepNumR16 parameter, etc.) for the UE to apply to unicast dynamic PDSCHs and unicast semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCHs. [0061] As described herein, a UE may be configured with one or more group-common PDSCHs such as a group-common dynamic PDSCH, one or more group-common SPS PDSCHs, or a combination thereof, where the group-common PDSCHs are further configured with repetitions.) receiving, from the BS, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configuration for unicast; ([0124] the PDCCH 405 may include an indication of a feedback indicator field value (e.g., PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field value), K.sub.1, that represents a number of slots (e.g., or different length transmission time intervals) between a last occurring PDSCH (e.g., the fourth unicast PDSCH 415-d) and an uplink channel (e.g., physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)) that carries an ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., acknowledgment feedback message).) receiving, from the BS, downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a unicast PDSCH; ([0124] the PDCCH 405 may include an indication of a slot offset (K.sub.0) that represents a number of slots (e.g., or different length transmission time intervals) between the end of the PDCCH 405 and the first unicast PDSCH 415-a) determining a Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the unicast PDSCH based on the first configuration for unicast SPS PDSCH, the second configuration for multicast SPS PDSCH, and the third configuration for unicast PDSCH; and ([0125] for a Type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE 115 may provide a single HARQ-ACK feedback for a set of M occasions of candidate PDSCH repetitions, where a timeline is counted at the end of slot repetitions. For a semi-static repetition scheme, the set of M.sub.A,c occasions for candidate PDSCH receptions may be determined based on maximum values of aggregation factor (e.g., pdsch-AggregationFactor)values (e.g., if provided in sps-Config and/or pdsch-Config). [0128] However, rather than being a unicast PDSCH as described with reference to FIG. 4A, the PDSCHs 435 may be group-common PDSCHs (e.g., group-common downlink shared channels) transmitted to multiple UEs 115. 0130] Additionally, the UE 115 may use a Type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook or a Type 2 HARQ-ACK codebook when transmitting the ACK/NACK 445 for the group-common set of repeated PDSCHs 430 (e.g., multicast data). transmitting, to the BS, the Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook corresponding to the unicast PDSCH in a first slot. ([0125] When transmitting the ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., for PDSCH with repetitions), the UE 115 may use a HARQ-ACK codebook. For example, for a Type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook,) As to claims 2 and 10, Liu teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the first configuration for unicast SPS PDSCH configures a first number of PDSCH repetitions; the second configuration for multicast SPS PDSCH configures a second number of PDSCH repetitions; and the third configuration for unicast PDSCH configures a third number of PDSCH repetitions. ([0060] the base station may configure the UE with a repetition configuration (e.g., including a pdsch-AggregationFactor parameter, a RepNumR16 parameter, etc.) for the UE to apply to unicast dynamic PDSCHs and unicast semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCHs. [0061] As described herein, a UE may be configured with one or more group-common PDSCHs such as a group-common dynamic PDSCH, one or more group-common SPS PDSCHs, or a combination thereof, where the group-common PDSCHs are further configured with repetitions.) As to claim 3, Liu teaches the method of claim 2, wherein determining the Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook based on the first configuration for unicast SPS PDSCH, the second configuration for multicast SPS PDSCH, and the third configuration for unicast PDSCH comprises: determining a maximum value of the first number of PDSCH repetitions, the second number of PDSCH repetitions, and the third number of PDSCH repetitions to be a total number of slots; and determining whether one or more HARQ-ACK bits associated with one or more sets of slots determined based on the total number of slots are included in the Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook. ([0125] When transmitting the ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., for PDSCH with repetitions), the UE 115 may use a HARQ-ACK codebook. For example, for a Type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE 115 may provide a single HARQ-ACK feedback for a set of M occasions of candidate PDSCH repetitions, where a timeline is counted at the end of slot repetitions. [0126] Using the Type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE 115 may report HARQ-ACK information for a PDSCH reception from slot n−N.sub.PDSCH.sup.repeat+1 to slot n if N.sub.PDSCH.sup.repeat is provided by the aggregation factor (e.g., pdsch-AggregationFactor), or from slot n−RepNumR16+1 to slot n if a time domain resource assignment field in a DCI format scheduling the PDSCH reception indicates an entry in the time domain allocation list (e.g., pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList) containing the repetition number (e.g., RepNumR16), or in slot n otherwise.) As to claim 6, Liu teaches the method of claim 3, wherein a length of each of the one or more sets of slots is the total number of slots. ([0125] When transmitting the ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., for PDSCH with repetitions), the UE 115 may use a HARQ-ACK codebook. For example, for a Type 1 HARQ-ACK codebook, the UE 115 may provide a single HARQ-ACK feedback for a set of M occasions of candidate PDSCH repetitions, where a timeline is counted at the end of slot repetitions) As to claims 7 and 12, Liu teaches the method of claim 1, wherein: the Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook is transmitted via a PUCCH; and the PUCCH is determined from one or more PUCCHs configured by the PUCCH configuration. ([0124] the PDCCH 405 may include an indication of a feedback indicator field value (e.g., PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field value), K.sub.1, that represents a number of slots (e.g., or different length transmission time intervals) between a last occurring PDSCH (e.g., the fourth unicast PDSCH 415-d) and an uplink channel (e.g., physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)) that carries an ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., acknowledgment feedback message).) As to claim 11, Liu teaches the method of claim 9, wherein the PUCCH configuration configures one or more HARQ-ACK feedback offsets. ([0124] the PDCCH 405 may include an indication of a feedback indicator field value (e.g., PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field value), K.sub.1, that represents a number of slots (e.g., or different length transmission time intervals) between a last occurring PDSCH (e.g., the fourth unicast PDSCH 415-d) and an uplink channel (e.g., physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)) that carries an ACK/NACK 420 (e.g., acknowledgment feedback message).) Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4 and 5 are 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 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELTON S WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-9933. The examiner can normally be reached 8-4 Mon-Fri. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at (571) 270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Elton Williams/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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Prosecution Timeline

Feb 01, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
78%
Grant Probability
87%
With Interview (+8.6%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 427 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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