CTFR 18/481,144 CTFR 100520 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Claims 1-30 are pending in this application. Response to Arguments 07-37 AIA Applicant's arguments filed March 18, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 20, 29 and 30 that Hooli and Yeo do not teach “store, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful; and transmit, via the transceiver and to a network entity, a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE, wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated”, stating that the Office Action acknowledges that Hooli does not disclose “store, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful; and transmit, via the transceiver and to a network entity, a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE, wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated”, “Instead, the Office Action relies on Yeo as allegedly overcoming the deficiencies of Hooli. Id., p. 5 (citing Yeo [0096]). However, Yeo does not teach or suggest the features of independent claim 1 or overcome the deficiencies of Hooli“ (Response filed March 18, 2026, page 10) and “Yeo does not teach or suggest to "transmit, via the transceiver and to a network entity, a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE, wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer of the UE," as recited in independent claim 1, or overcome the deficiencies of Hooli” (Response filed March 18, 2026, page 11), Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant. The Office Action does not acknowledge that Hooli does not disclose “store, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful; and transmit, via the transceiver and to a network entity, a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE, wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated”. The Office Action only acknowledges that Yeo more specifically discloses that soft-buffer data or soft bits are the decoding information associated with unsuccessful decoding. Yeo teaches that “when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding” [Yeo [Para. 0096]). Based on Yeo, the soft buffer data enables combination with retransmission in decoding and thus is decoding information. Hooli teaches that “For PDSCH operation, the BS is made aware of a successful reception (i.e., “ACK”) or unsuccessful reception (i.e. “NACK”) based on HARQ-ACK feedback by the UE to the BS” (Hooli [Para. 0143]), “When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability” (Hooli [Para. 0144]), “there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). Therefore, …‘NACK’ indicating ‘soft-bits stored’” (Hooli [Para. 0174]), and "In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3” (Hooli [Para. 0250 and 0251]). Based on Hooli, NACK indicates feeding back “soft-bits stored” as the soft buffer information and storing the soft-bits, and feeding back the soft buffer information is associated with unsuccessful decoding. Soft-bits are thus associated with unsuccessful decoding. Therefore, Hooli teaches that the UE stores, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful. Additionally, based on specific teaching of Yeo, the soft-buffer data that enables combination of the initial transmission data and retransmission in Hooli is for performing decoding. In combination, Hooli and Yeo more specifically teach storing, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful. Hooli further provides “providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information” (Hooli [Para. 0157]) and "The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value” (Hooli [Para. 0235]). “the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold” (Hooli [Para. 0236]), "In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3 (Hooli [Para. 0250 and 0251]). According to Hooli, the UE transmits the report of soft buffer usage information to the network entity, the soft buffer usage information indicates the occupancy of the buffer with respect to the threshold. Again, according to Hooli as stated above, the soft-buffer data or soft bits are decoding information of unsuccessful decoding stored in the soft buffer. Therefore, soft buffer usage information indicating the occupancy of the buffer with respect to the threshold by the soft-buffer data or soft bits is associated with the soft-buffer data or soft bits stored in the buffer, the soft-buffer data or soft bits are decoding information, and the UE transmits the report of soft buffer usage information to the network entity indicating the parameters associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer. Therefore, Hooli individually and in combination with Yeo teach that the UE stores, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful; and transmits, via the transceiver and to a network entity, a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE, wherein the buffer usage information . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-2, 11-14, 17, 19-21, 25-27 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo) . For claim 1, Hooli teaches a user equipment (UE) ([FIG. 2], UE 200), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code ([Para. 0280 and 0281], computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device may be stored on memory); a transceiver ([FIG. 2], transceiver 206); and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and the transceiver and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to ([Para. 0138] and [FIG. 2], A mobile device is typically provided with data processing entity 201, at least one memory 202 for use in software execution): perform a decoding operation on a downlink message for the UE ([Para. 0154] and [FIG. 4], receiving downlink data transmission at a user equipment from a network node. [Para. 0155], determining that decoding of the downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful); store, in a buffer of the UE , decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful ([Para. 0143], For PDSCH operation, the BS is made aware of unsuccessful reception (i.e. “NACK”) based on HARQ-ACK feedback by the UE to the BS, [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability. [Para. 0174], there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). Therefore, ‘NACK’ indicating ‘soft-bits stored’. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3 [Examiner’s Note: NACK indicates feeding back soft buffer information (“soft-bits stored”) and storing soft bits, and feeding back soft buffer is associated with unsuccessful decoding. Therefore, soft bits are associated with unsuccessful decoding]), and transmit, via the transceiver and to a network entity , a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE ([Para. 0139], The mobile device transmits signals. The transceiver apparatus is provided. [Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information. [Para. 0235], The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value. [Para. 0236], the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3), wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer of the UE ([Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability. [Para. 0174], there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). [Para. 0235], The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value. [Para. 0236], the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3). Hooli teaches storing the soft-buffer data or soft bits in the buffer of the UE as decoding information associated unsuccessful decoding operation. Yeo more specifically discloses that the soft-buffer data is the decoding information. Yeo is directed to providing method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data and feedback in wireless communication system. More specifically, Yeo teaches store, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful ([Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding); wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer of the UE ([Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, so that the decoding information LLR is stored in soft buffer, as taught by Yeo. The modification would have allowed decoding on retransmission only code blocks of which decoding failed in initial transmission (Yeo [Para. 0129]). For claim 2, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. The references further teach wherein the decoding information comprises one or more log-likelihood ratios for a transport block associated with the downlink message (Yeo [Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer), and wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive, via the transceiver, a retransmission of the downlink message based at least in part on the report (Hooli [Para. 0223] and [FIG. 7], step 703, the UE indicates to the BS, based on the determination of step 702, if PDSCH soft-bits are stored (or not). Hooli [Para. 0224], Step 704, the UE receives a PDSCH re-transmission. Hooli [Para. 0231], step 709, the UE decodes the PDSCH re-transmission and may apply soft-bit combining of the soft-bits of the multiple (re-)transmissions. Hooli [Para. 0144], the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability), and perform a second decoding operation on the retransmission based at least in part on the one or more log-likelihood ratios (Hooli Steps 707, 709, FIG. 7, decode the PDSCH re-transmission. Yeo [Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, so that the decoding information LLR is stored in soft buffer and combined with retransmission in second decoding, as taught by Yeo. The modification would have allowed decoding on retransmission only code blocks of which decoding failed in initial transmission (Yeo [Para. 0129]). For claim 11, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. The references further teach wherein the one or more parameters indicate a transport block associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer (Hooli [Para. 0176], The indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmission are stored in a soft buffer may be provided with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Hooli [Para. 0177], as part of the HARQ-ACK feedback reporting, the UE indicates for the HARQ process, in addition to ‘ACK’ or ‘NACK’, whether or not it stored soft bits in a soft-buffer memory. [Examiner’s Note: Whether the decoding information is stored for the HARQ process is the parameter. The parameter indicates the corresponding HARQ process]. Hooli [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process [Examiner’s Note: The transport block is associated with the HARQ process. Indication of the HARQ process in turn indicates the transport block associated with the HARQ process]). For claim 12, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 11. The references further teach wherein the one or more parameters comprise an indication of a carrier identification value, a hybrid automatic repeat request identification value (Hooli [Para. 0176], The indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmission are stored in a soft buffer may be provided with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Hooli [Para. 0177], as part of the HARQ-ACK feedback reporting, the UE indicates for the HARQ process, in addition to ‘ACK’ or ‘NACK’, whether or not it stored soft bits in a soft-buffer memory. [Examiner’s Note: Whether the decoding information is stored for the HARQ process is the parameter. The parameter indicates the corresponding HARQ process and the corresponding HARQ process further indicates to the base station receiving the HARQ process feedback the HARQ process identification]), a new data indication associated with the downlink message, or a combination thereof . For claim 13, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. The references further teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: store, in the buffer of the UE, additional decoding information associated with a plurality of decoding operations for a respective plurality of downlink messages (Hooli [Para. 0176], The indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmission are stored in a soft buffer may be provided with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Hooli [Para. 0179], in addition to the HARQ-ACK bit(s) for a HARQ process there may be one separate bit for the HARQ process for which HARQ-ACK is to be reported, which indicates by state ‘0’ (or ‘1’), that the soft-bits of the HARQ process are stored by the UE or by state ‘1’ (or ‘0’) that the soft-buffer bits for the HARQ-ACK process have not been stored. Hooli [Para. 0193], The appended information of the soft-bits storing may be based on a bitmap of size K, where each bit maps to a HARQ process (or PDSCH) for which HARQ-ACK is provided [Examiner’s Note: The indication of whether the soft bits are stored for one PDSCH transport block is the decoding information for that PDSCH transport block, which is by one bit. A bitmap includes multiple bits that indicate decoding information for multiple PDSCH transport blocks. The multiple PDSCH transport blocks are the plurality of downlink messages and the bits of the bitmap for the transport blocks are the additional decoding information]. Hooli [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process [Examiner’s Note: The transport block is associated with the HARQ process. Indication of the HARQ process in turn indicates the transport block associated with the HARQ process]), each of the plurality of decoding operations being at least partially unsuccessful (Hooli [Para. 0205], The UE may not store soft-bits of successfully decoded PDSCH HARQ processes in its soft-buffer memory, as the PDSCH transport blocks associated with the HARQ process have been successfully received already). For claim 14, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 13. The references further teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transmit the report indicating the buffer usage information (Hooli [Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information. [Para. 0171], the soft buffer information comprises an indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmissions are stored in a soft buffer memory. [Para. 0176], The indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmission are stored in a soft buffer may be provided with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback.), wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters of the decoding information associated with the plurality of decoding operations (Hooli [Para. 0179], in addition to the HARQ-ACK bit(s) for a HARQ process there may be one separate bit for the HARQ process for which HARQ-ACK is to be reported, which indicates by state ‘0’ (or ‘1’), that the soft-bits of the HARQ process are stored by the UE or by state ‘1’ (or ‘0’) that the soft-buffer bits for the HARQ-ACK process have not been stored. One additional bit for the indication of storing soft-bits of a HARQ process is appended to the HARQ-ACK bits of the HARQ process. Hooli [Para. 0193], The appended information of the soft-bits storing may be based on a bitmap of size K, where each bit maps to a HARQ process (or PDSCH) for which HARQ-ACK is provided. [Examiner’s Note: Whether the decoding information for a HARQ process is stored in the buffer is the parameter]). For claim 17, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. The references further teach wherein the report is transmitted via an uplink control information message (Hooli [Para. 0241], The indication of available soft buffer capacity may be provided with uplink control information. Hooli [Para. 0242], the indication of the soft-buffer status may be fed back by the UE as part of uplink control information (UCI). Hooli Hooli [Para. 0197], the indication by the UE to the BS is reported on PUCCH as uplink control information (UCI)). For claim 19, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1, The references further teach wherein the report is transmitted via a medium access control-control element message (Hooli [Para. 0241], The indication of available soft buffer capacity may be provided with a medium access control control element). For claim 20, Hooli teaches a network entity ([FIG. 3], control apparatus 300), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code ([Para. 0280 and 0281], computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device may be stored on memory); and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to ([Para. 0140] and [FIG. 3], The control apparatus 300 can be arranged to provide control on communications. The control apparatus 300 comprises memory 301 and data processing unit 302, 303. [Para. 0280 and 0281], computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device may be stored on memory): transmit a downlink message to a user equipment (UE) ([Para. 0154] and [FIG. 4], receiving downlink data transmission at a user equipment from a network node); receive, from the UE, a report indicating buffer usage information of a buffer of the UE ([Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information), wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters of decoding information associated with at least a partially unsuccessful decoding operation of the downlink message at the UE ([Para. 0235], The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value. [Para. 0236], the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold. [Para. 0143], For PDSCH operation, the BS is made aware of unsuccessful reception (i.e. “NACK”) based on HARQ-ACK feedback by the UE to the BS, [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability. [Para. 0174], there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). Therefore, ‘NACK’ indicating ‘soft-bits stored’. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3 [Examiner’s Note: NACK indicates feeding back soft buffer information (“soft-bits stored”) and storing soft bits, and feeding back soft buffer is associated with unsuccessful decoding. Therefore, soft bits are associated with unsuccessful decoding]); and transmit a retransmission of the downlink message based at least in part on receiving the report ([Para. 0223] and [FIG. 7], step 703, the UE indicates to the BS, based on the determination of step 702, if PDSCH soft-bits are stored (or not). [Para. 0224], Step 704, the UE receives a PDSCH re-transmission). Hooli teaches storing the soft-buffer data or soft bits in the buffer of the UE as decoding information associated unsuccessful decoding operation. Yeo more specifically discloses that the soft-buffer data is the decoding information. Yeo is directed to providing method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data and feedback in wireless communication system. More specifically, Yeo teaches wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters of decoding information associated with at least a partially unsuccessful decoding operation of the downlink message at the UE ([Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, so that the decoding information LLR is stored in soft buffer, as taught by Yeo. The modification would have allowed decoding on retransmission only code blocks of which decoding failed in initial transmission (Yeo [Para. 0129]). For claim 21, Hooli and Yeo teach the network entity of claim 20, The references further teach wherein the decoding information comprises one or more log-likelihood ratios for a transport block associated with the downlink message (Yeo [Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, so that the decoding information LLR is stored in soft buffer, as taught by Yeo. The modification would have allowed decoding on retransmission only code blocks of which decoding failed in initial transmission (Yeo [Para. 0129]). For claims 25-26 are directed to apparatus claims and they do not disclose or further define over the limitations recited in claims 11-12. Therefore, claims 25-26 are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claims 11-12. For claim 27, Hooli and Yeo teach the network entity of claim 20. The references further teach wherein, to receive the report, the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: receive the report indicating the buffer usage information (Hooli [Para. 0161], receiving, from the user equipment at the network node, soft buffer information), wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters of additional decoding information associated with a plurality of decoding operations corresponding to a plurality of downlink messages (Hooli [Para. 0176], The indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmission are stored in a soft buffer may be provided with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Hooli [Para. 0179], in addition to the HARQ-ACK bit(s) for a HARQ process there may be one separate bit for the HARQ process for which HARQ-ACK is to be reported, which indicates by state ‘0’ (or ‘1’), that the soft-bits of the HARQ process are stored by the UE or by state ‘1’ (or ‘0’) that the soft-buffer bits for the HARQ-ACK process have not been stored. One additional bit for the indication of storing soft-bits of a HARQ process is appended to the HARQ-ACK bits of the HARQ process. Hooli [Para. 0193], The appended information of the soft-bits storing may be based on a bitmap of size K, where each bit maps to a HARQ process (or PDSCH) for which HARQ-ACK is provided. [Examiner’s Note: Examiner’s Note: The indication of whether the soft bits are stored for one PDSCH transport block is the decoding information for that PDSCH transport block, which is by one bit. A bitmap of multiple bits indicates decoding information for multiple PDSCH transport blocks. The multiple PDSCH transport blocks are the plurality of downlink messages and the bits of the bitmap for the transport blocks are the additional decoding information. The bitmap is the report that is appended to HARQ-ACK feedback and transmitted from the UE to the base station]. Hooli [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process [Examiner’s Note: The transport block is associated with the HARQ process. Indication of the HARQ process in turn indicates the transport block associated with the HARQ process]), each of the plurality of decoding operations being at least partially unsuccessful (Hooli [Para. 0205], The UE may not store soft-bits of successfully decoded PDSCH HARQ processes in its soft-buffer memory, as the PDSCH transport blocks associated with the HARQ process have been successfully received already). For claim 29, Hooli teaches a method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) ([Para. 0153] and [FIG. 4], a method by UE) , comprising : performing a decoding operation on a downlink message for the UE ([Para. 0154] and [FIG. 4], receiving downlink data transmission at a user equipment from a network node. [Para. 0155], determining that decoding of the downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful); storing, in a buffer of the UE , decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful ([Para. 0143], For PDSCH operation, the BS is made aware of unsuccessful reception (i.e. “NACK”) based on HARQ-ACK feedback by the UE to the BS, [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability. [Para. 0174], there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). Therefore, ‘NACK’ indicating ‘soft-bits stored’. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3 [Examiner’s Note: NACK indicates feeding back soft buffer information (“soft-bits stored”) and storing soft bits, and feeding back soft buffer is associated with unsuccessful decoding. Therefore, soft bits are associated with unsuccessful decoding]), and transmitting, via the transceiver and to a network entity , a report indicating buffer usage information of the buffer of the UE ([Para. 0139], The mobile device transmits signals. The transceiver apparatus is provided. [Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information. [Para. 0235], The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value. [Para. 0236], the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3), wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer of the UE ([Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability. [Para. 0174], there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). [Para. 0235], The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value. [Para. 0236], the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3). Hooli teaches storing the soft-buffer data or soft bits in the buffer of the UE as decoding information associated unsuccessful decoding operation. Yeo more specifically discloses that the soft-buffer data is the decoding information. Yeo is directed to providing method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data and feedback in wireless communication system. More specifically, Yeo teaches storing, in a buffer of the UE, decoding information associated with the decoding operation on the downlink message based at least in part on the decoding operation on the downlink message being at least partially unsuccessful ([Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding); wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters associated with the decoding information stored in the buffer of the UE ([Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Hooli, so that the decoding information LLR is stored in soft buffer, as taught by Yeo. The modification would have allowed decoding on retransmission only code blocks of which decoding failed in initial transmission (Yeo [Para. 0129]). For claim 30, Hooli teaches a method for wireless communication by a network entity ([Para. 0159] and [FIG. 5], a method by network node), comprising: transmitting a downlink message to a user equipment (UE) ([Para. 0154] and [FIG. 4], receiving downlink data transmission at a user equipment from a network node); receiving, from the UE, a report indicating buffer usage information of a buffer of the UE ([Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information), wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters of decoding information associated with at least a partially unsuccessful decoding operation of the downlink message at the UE ([Para. 0235], The soft buffer information may comprise an indication of available soft buffer capacity with respect to threshold capacity value. [Para. 0236], the UE could indicate with ‘0’ that the current soft-buffer usage is below a soft-buffer threshold and ‘1’ could indicate that the soft-buffer usage is above a certain threshold. [Para. 0143], For PDSCH operation, the BS is made aware of unsuccessful reception (i.e. “NACK”) based on HARQ-ACK feedback by the UE to the BS, [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process. To be able to combine the received data of an earlier transmission attempt and a later re-transmission, the UE stores soft-buffer data of the transport block in its soft buffer memory to enable combining of the initial (i.e., first) transmission and potential re-transmissions to improve the detection reliability. [Para. 0174], there is an implicit assumption that the UE stores soft-bits in case of unsuccessful reception (i.e. UE would indicate NACK). Therefore, ‘NACK’ indicating ‘soft-bits stored’. [Para. 0250 and 0251], In step 3, the UE determines after the related PDSCH decoding its current soft-buffer status. This is an example of determining, based on the determining that decoding of the at least one downlink data transmission at the user equipment is unsuccessful. In step 4, the UE feeds back information of its soft-buffer usage based on the determination of step 3 [Examiner’s Note: NACK indicates feeding back soft buffer information (“soft-bits stored”) and storing soft bits, and feeding back soft buffer is associated with unsuccessful decoding. Therefore, soft bits are associated with unsuccessful decoding]); and transmitting a retransmission of the downlink message based at least in part on receiving the report ([Para. 0223] and [FIG. 7], step 703, the UE indicates to the BS, based on the determination of step 702, if PDSCH soft-bits are stored (or not). [Para. 0224], Step 704, the UE receives a PDSCH re-transmission). Hooli teaches storing the soft-buffer data or soft bits in the buffer of the UE as decoding information associated unsuccessful decoding operation. Yeo more specifically discloses that the soft-buffer data is the decoding information. Yeo is directed to providing method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data and feedback in wireless communication system. More specifically, Yeo teaches wherein the buffer usage information indicates one or more parameters of decoding information associated with at least a partially unsuccessful decoding operation of the downlink message at the UE ([Para. 0096], when the UE attempts TB decoding in DL data transmission, the UE may determine transmission success and failure. When the UE fails in decoding with respect to TB, the UE may store a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for performing decoding in a soft buffer. When a corresponding TB is retransmitted, the stored LLR value may be combined with retransmitted data for use in decoding). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Hooli, so that the decoding information LLR is stored in soft buffer, as taught by Yeo. The modification would have allowed decoding on retransmission only code blocks of which decoding failed in initial transmission (Yeo [Para. 0129]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 3-5, 8, 10 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo), and further in view of Jassal et al. (US20250233697A1, hereinafter Jassal) . For claim 3, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. Although teaching providing soft buffer status report to the base station, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive, via the transceiver and from the network entity, a message indicating a periodic set of time resources for transmission of the report in accordance with a periodicity . Jassal is directed to providing methods, system, and apparatus for retransmission in large propagation delay wireless communications. More specifically, Jassal teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive, via the transceiver and from the network entity, a message indicating a periodic set of time resources for transmission of the report in accordance with a periodicity ([Para. 0176], a network device may configure a UE to periodically report current occupancy status of memory space in which data blocks are stored, by transmitting soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission. The UE is configured with a periodic SBSR configuration as follows: SoftBuffer-Config = {SoftBufferStatusReport-Config = {periodicity = {20 slots}, …}). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the network configures the UE with periodic time resources for periodic soft buffer status report transmission, as taught by Jassal. The modification would have provided flexibility in how UE soft buffers are used in retransmission processes (Jassal [Para. 0007]). For claim 4, Hooli Yeo, and Jassal teach the UE of claim 3. The references further teach wherein, to transmit the report (Hooli [Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information), the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transmit, via the transceiver, the report via one or more time resources of the periodic set of time resources in accordance with the periodicity (Jassal [Para. 0176], a network device may configure a UE to periodically report current occupancy status of memory space in which data blocks are stored, by transmitting soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission. The UE is configured with a periodic SBSR configuration as follows: SoftBuffer-Config = {SoftBufferStatusReport-Config = {periodicity = {20 slots}, …}). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the UE is configured by the network to transmit soft buffer status report periodically, as taught by Jassal. The modification would have provided flexibility in how UE soft buffers are used in retransmission processes (Jassal [Para. 0007]). For claim 5, Hooli, Yeo and Jassal teach the UE of claim 3. The references further teach wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: refrain from transmitting a second report via one or more time resources of the periodic set of time resources based at least in part on the buffer usage information being the same as buffer usage information included in a previous report, a utilization of the buffer being below a threshold value (Jassal [Para. 0176], a network device may configure a UE to periodically report current occupancy status by transmitting a report such as an soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission. In another embodiment, occupancy status reporting is responsive to memory space occupancy reaching a threshold. Jassal [Para. 0185], The eventType that triggers the SBSR report is set as “occupancy above threshold”, i.e. the occupancy of the buffer space is above a given threshold. Jassal [Para. 0188], a network device may configure a UE to report the current occupancy status of the memory space whenever specific events are triggered, by transmitting a report such as SBSR in UCI over a PUCCH transmission [Examiner’s Note: Buffer report is not transmitted when the buffer occupancy is below the threshold. It is obvious to combine the embodiments of the periodic report and event triggered report]), the buffer being empty, or a combination thereof It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the buffer status report is not transmitted when buffer occupancy is below a threshold, as taught by Jassal. The modification would have provided flexibility in how UE soft buffers are used in retransmission processes (Jassal [Para. 0007]) For claim 8, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. Although teaching providing soft buffer status report to the base station, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to : detect an event at the UE, wherein the report is transmitted based at least in part on detection of the event by the UE . Jassal is directed to providing methods, system, and apparatus for retransmission in large propagation delay wireless communications. More specifically, Jassal teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to : detect an event at the UE ([Para. 0185], The eventType that triggers the SBSR report is set as “occupancy above threshold”, i.e. the occupancy of the buffer space is above a given threshold. [Para. 0189], The eventThreshold provides the threshold for the event [Examiner’s Note: eventThreshold is provided for detection]), wherein the report is transmitted based at least in part on detection of the event by the UE ([Para. 0188], a network device may configure a UE to report the current occupancy status of the memory space whenever specific events are triggered, by transmitting a report such as a soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the buffer occupancy being higher than a threshold triggers transmission of buffer report, as taught by Jassal. The modification would have provided flexibility in how UE soft buffers are used in retransmission processes (Jassal [Para. 0007]). For claim 10, Hooli, Yeo and Jassal teach the UE of claim 8. The references further teach wherein, to transmit the report (Hooli [Para. 0157], providing, from the user equipment to the network node, the soft buffer information), the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to (Hooli [Para. 0280], computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device. Hooli [Para. 0138], A mobile device is typically provided with data processing entity for use in software execution, including communications with access systems. [Para. 0139], The mobile device transmits signals. The transceiver apparatus is provided): transmit, via the transceiver (Hooli [Para. 0139], The mobile device transmits signals. The transceiver apparatus is provided), the report based at least in part on a buffer usage satisfying a threshold value (Jassal [Para. 0185], The eventType that triggers the SBSR report is set as “occupancy above threshold”, i.e. the occupancy of the buffer space is above a given threshold. Jassal [Para. 0188], a network device may configure a UE to report the current occupancy status of the memory space whenever specific events are triggered, by transmitting a report such as an soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission), wherein the event comprises the buffer usage satisfying the threshold value (Jassal [Para. 0185], The eventType that triggers the SBSR report is set as “occupancy above threshold”, i.e. the occupancy of the buffer space is above a given threshold). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the buffer status report is transmitted based on buffer occupancy being above a threshold, as taught by Jassal. The modification would have provided flexibility in how UE soft buffers are used in retransmission processes (Jassal [Para. 0007]). For claim 22, Hooli and Yeo teach the network entity of claim 20. Although teaching providing soft buffer status report to the base station, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: transmit a message indicating a periodic set of time resources for transmission of the report by the UE in accordance with a periodicity, wherein the report is received via a one or more resources of the periodic set of time resources in accordance with the periodicity . Jassal is directed to providing methods, system, and apparatus for retransmission in large propagation delay wireless communications. More specifically, Jassal teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: transmit a message indicating a periodic set of time resources for transmission of the report by the UE in accordance with a periodicity ([Para. 0176], a network device may configure a UE to periodically report current occupancy status of memory space in which data blocks are stored, by transmitting soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission. The UE is configured with a periodic SBSR configuration as follows: SoftBuffer-Config = {SoftBufferStatusReport-Config = {periodicity = {20 slots}, …}), wherein the report is received via a one or more resources of the periodic set of time resources in accordance with the periodicity ([Para. 0176], a network device may configure a UE to periodically report current occupancy status of memory space in which data blocks are stored, by transmitting soft buffer status report (SBSR) in UCI over a PUCCH transmission. The UE is configured with a periodic SBSR configuration as follows: SoftBuffer-Config = {SoftBufferStatusReport-Config = {periodicity = {20 slots}, …}). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the UE is configured by the network with periodic time resources for periodic soft buffer status report transmission to transmit soft buffer status report periodically, as taught by Jassal. The modification would have provided flexibility in how UE soft buffers are used in retransmission processes (Jassal [Para. 0007]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 6, 15, 23 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo), and further in view of Davydov (WO2018102098A1, hereinafter Davydov) . For claim 6, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. Although teaching providing soft buffer status report to the base station, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive, via the transceiver and from the network entity, a message comprising one or more downlink control information bits, wherein the one or more downlink control information bits trigger the UE to transmit the report . Davydov is directed to providing systems, methods and devices for managing harq buffer status. More specifically, Davydov teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive, via the transceiver and from the network entity, a message comprising one or more downlink control information bits ([Para. 0031], The HARQ buffer report indicates an amount of HARQ memory occupied by the received soft channel bits which were not correctly decoded. [Para. 0032] A HARQ buffer status report can be triggered by the gNB using physical layer control signaling. The UE, upon reception of the request, can generate and provide the HARQ buffer report to the gNB. [Para. 0034], the gNB requests a HARQ soft buffer load report from UE. The request can be for one report or a series of reports. The UE can then transmit the HARQ soft buffer load report to the gNB [Examiner’s Note: The request that the UE receives is the downlink control signaling. The request for buffer load corresponds to control information bits]. [Para. 0047], The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH symbols may first be organized and then be permuted using a sub- block interleaver for rate matching [Examiner’s Note: PDCCH symbols comprise control information bits]), wherein the one or more downlink control information bits trigger the UE to transmit the report ([Para. 0032] A HARQ buffer status report can be triggered by the gNB using physical layer control signaling. The UE, upon reception of the request, can generate and provide the HARQ buffer report to the gNB. [Para. 0034], the gNB requests a HARQ soft buffer load report from UE. The request can be for one report or a series of reports. The UE can then transmit the HARQ soft buffer load report to the gNB [Examiner’s Note: The request for buffer load corresponds to control information bits]. [Para. 0047], The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH symbols may first be organized and then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate]). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the transmission of buffer status report is triggered by downlink control signal from the base station, as taught by Davydov. The modification would have provided the benefit for the gNB to be aware of current HARQ buffer loading status to use new incremental redundancy versions (IRV) for retransmission when the current HARQ buffer load is low (Davydov [Para. 0030]). For claim 15, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 13. The references further teach wherein the buffer usage information comprises a respective bitmap for each component carrier of a set of component carriers associated with the plurality of downlink messages (Hooli [Para. 0176], The indication whether soft bits of the downlink data transmission are stored in a soft buffer may be provided with hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Hooli [Para. 0179], one additional bit for the indication of storing soft-bits of a HARQ process is appended to the HARQ-ACK bits of the HARQ process. Hooli [Para. 0193], The appended information of the soft-bits storing may be based on a bitmap of size K, where each bit maps to a HARQ process (or PDSCH) for which HARQ-ACK is provided), each respective bit of a first bitmap for a first component carrier of the set of component carriers indicating whether decoding information associated with a respective transport block for a respective downlink message of the plurality of downlink messages is stored in the buffer ([Para. 0179], in addition to the HARQ-ACK bit(s) for a HARQ process there may be one separate bit for the HARQ process for which HARQ-ACK is to be reported, which indicates by state ‘0’ (or ‘1’), that the soft-bits of the HARQ process are stored by the UE or by state ‘1’ (or ‘0’) that the soft-buffer bits for the HARQ-ACK process have not been stored. One additional bit for the indication of storing soft-bits of a HARQ process is appended to the HARQ-ACK bits of the HARQ process. Hooli [Para. 0193], The appended information of the soft-bits storing may be based on a bitmap of size K, where each bit maps to a HARQ process (or PDSCH) for which HARQ-ACK is provided. Hooli [Para. 0144], When receiving “NACK” for a certain HARQ process, the BS may schedule a re-transmission to the UE of the transport block associated with the HARQ process). Although teaching indication of whether soft bits for each HARQ process are stored in a bitmap, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the buffer usage information comprises a respective bitmap for each component carrier of a set of component carriers associated with the plurality of downlink messages , each respective bit of a first bitmap for a first component carrier of the set of component carriers indicating whether decoding information associated with a respective transport block for a respective downlink message of the plurality of downlink messages is stored in the buffer . Davydov is directed to providing systems, methods and devices for managing harq buffer status. More specifically, Davydov teaches wherein the buffer usage information comprises a respective bitmap for each component carrier of a set of component carriers associated with the plurality of downlink messages ([Para. 0019], the procedure for storing soft channel bits is described in case of decoding failure, where the UE has to equally split the available memory between the configured component carriers to store the received bits. [Para. 0029], FIG. 1 illustrates soft buffer partitioning across three carriers. Each carrier is given memory for 8 HARQ processes [Examiner’s Note: Hooli teaches a bitmap each bit indicating the information of soft bits storing for each of all the HARQ processes. It is obvious to apply Hooli to the HARQ processes in each carrier in Davydov]), each respective bit of a first bitmap for a first component carrier of the set of component carriers indicating whether decoding information associated with a respective transport block for a respective downlink message of the plurality of downlink messages is stored in the buffer ([Para. 0019], the procedure for storing soft channel bits is described in case of decoding failure, where the UE has to equally split the available memory between the configured component carriers to store the received bits. [Para. 0029], FIG. 1 illustrates soft buffer partitioning across three carriers. Each carrier is given memory for 8 HARQ processes). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the HARQ processes are divided among carriers, as taught by Davydov. The modification would have allowed a UE to store received soft channel bits for HARQ operation while operating with large number component carriers in the unlicensed bands to increase peak data rate (Davydov [Para. 0018-0019]). For claim 23 is directed to apparatus claim and it does not disclose or further define over the limitations recited in claim 6. Therefore, claim 23 is also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim 6. For claim 28 is directed to apparatus claim and it does not disclose or further define over the limitations recited in claim 15. Therefore, claim 28 is also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim 15 . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 7 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo) and Davydov (WO2018102098A1, hereinafter Davydov), and further in view of Marinier et al. (US20140056278A1, hereinafter Marinier) and Papasakellariou (US20200305183A1, hereinafter Papasakellariou) . For claim 7, Hooli, Yeo and Davydov teach the UE of claim 6. Although teaching downlink control information triggering soft buffer status report, Hooli, Yeo and Davydov do not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more downlink control information bits indicate one or more priority values, one or more component carriers, or a combination thereof, associated with buffer usage information to be included in the report . Marinier is directed to providing physical layer operation for multi-layer operation in a wireless system. More specifically, Marinier teaches wherein the one or more downlink control information bits indicate one or more priority values ([Para. 0171], The DCI may include a flag and/or other indication of a priority value that may be associated with the grant included in the DCI), one or more component carriers, or a combination thereof . It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, Yeo and Davydov, so that the priority is included in downlink information that also includes resource grant, as taught by Marinier. The modification would have avoided signals not properly transmitted at the WTRU side, and not properly decoded (Marinier [Para. 0003]). Although teaching downlink control information indicating priority values, Hooli, Yeo, Davydov and Marinier do not explicitly disclose associated with buffer usage information to be included in the report . Papasakellariou is directed to providing adjusting parameters of a transmission in response to interference. More specifically, Papasakellariou teaches associated with buffer usage information to be included in the report ([Para. 0217], values for a priority field in a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH reception can be mapped to a HARQ_feedback timing-indicator field in the DCI format scheduling the PDSCH reception that indicates a transmission time for a PUCCH that includes HARQ-ACK information in response to the PDSCH reception). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, Yeo, Davydov and Marinier, so that the priority in downlink information for scheduling PDSCH reception is associated with feedback of the PDSCH, as taught by Papasakellariou. The modification would have provided the reliability of a PUSCH transmission from a UE that would be interfered by transmissions from other UEs (Papasakellariou [Para. 0104]). For claim 24 is directed to apparatus claim and it does not disclose or further define over the limitations recited in claim 7. Therefore, claim 24 is also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim 7 . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo) and Jassal et al. (US20250233697A1, hereinafter Jassal), and further in view of Kolding et al. (US20200314888A1, hereinafter Kolding) . For claim 9, Hooli, Yeo and Jassal teach the UE of claim 8. Although teaching transmitting the report based on detection of the event, Hooli, Yeo and Jassal do not explicitly disclose wherein, to detect the event, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: detect an absence of a downlink control information transmission from the network entity . Kolding is directed to providing multi-qos-level uplink grant and lcg control process. More specifically, Kolding teaches wherein, to detect the event ([Para. 0008], a network entity sends a BSR but never receives a grant [Examiner’s Note: Receiving a grant is the detection of the event]. [Para. 0051] and [FIG. 4], network entity 410 may transmit a buffer status report to base station 420 [Examiner’s Note: Network entity is the terminal to transmit BSR to base station]), the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: detect an absence of a downlink control information transmission from the network entity ([Para. 0008], a BSR may be triggered to provide BSR robustness. In order to avoid deadlock situations where a network entity sends a BSR but never receives a grant [Examiner’s Note: The terminal (referred to as network entity) does not receive grant], a BSR retransmission mechanism may be used to retransmit BSRs from the network entity. The network entity may track a timer which begins when a BSR is sent from the network entity and is stopped when a grant is received. However, if the timer expires, a new BSR may be triggered. [Para. 0046], The configuration of grant may be configured by dynamic signaling. [Para. 0047], Dynamic scheduling may use a new PDCCH DCI format). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli, Yeo and Jassal, so that the buffer status report is triggered by the absence of uplink grant, as taught by Kolding. The modification would have reduced the overall resources utilized by entities by avoiding unnecessary use of network resources (Kolding [Para. 0031]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo), and further in view of Agrawal et al. (US20240397427A1, hereinafter Agrawal) . For claim 16, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 1. Although teaching transmitting the report based on detection of the event, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the buffer usage information indicates a time instance, the time instance indicating that decoding information associated with downlink messages transmitted after the time instance is stored in the buffer and decoding information associated with at least one downlink message transmitted before the time instance is purged from the buffer . Agrawal is directed to providing control of states of a wireless device for connection to a satellite network. More specifically, Agrawal teaches wherein the buffer usage information indicates a time instance ([Para. 0044], the base station is further configured to transition the wireless device to a disconnected state and purge downlink messages when buffering of information for the wireless device reaches the maximum size threshold. The maximum size of the buffer(s) is adaptively selected based on a priority of the wireless device, a type of data, or network traffic [Examiner’s Note: The time when the buffer reaches the maximum size is a time instance]), the time instance indicating that decoding information associated with downlink messages transmitted after the time instance is stored in the buffer and decoding information associated with at least one downlink message transmitted before the time instance is purged from the buffer ([Para. 0044], the base station is further configured to transition the wireless device to a disconnected state and purge downlink messages when buffering of information for the wireless device reaches the maximum size threshold. The maximum size of the buffer(s) is adaptively selected based on a priority of the wireless device, a type of data, or network traffic). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the buffer status report is flushed based on the information adaptively selected, as taught by Agrawal. The modification would have allowed to utilize satellite channel (frequency spectrum) usage more efficiently (Agrawal [Para. 0029]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hooli et al. (US20250113356A1, hereinafter Hooli) in view of Yeo et al. (US20200145148A1, hereinafter Yeo), and further in view of Hao et al. (US20220174680A1, hereinafter Hao) . For claim 18, Hooli and Yeo teach the UE of claim 17. Although teaching transmitting the report via uplink control information, Hooli and Yeo do not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transmit, via the transceiver, a first uplink control information message indicating a size of the report; and transmit, via the transceiver, a second uplink control information message including the report . Hao is directed to providing configuration of intermediate set size for frequency domain basis reporting. More specifically, Hao teaches wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: transmit, via the transceiver, a first uplink control information message indicating a size of the report ([Para. 0039], The UE may need to report the size of the intermediate set in UCI part 1), and transmit, via the transceiver, a second uplink control information message including the report ([Para. 0039], the UE may need to report information related to the intermediate set in UCI part 2). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Hooli and Yeo, so that the first uplink control information indicates the size of the report and the second includes the report, as taught by Hao. The modification would have allowed to save the overhead used for a linear combination codebook (Hao [Para. 0028]). Conclusion 07-39 AIA THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHU LIU whose telephone number is (571)272-5186. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. 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, REBECCA E SONG can be reached at (571)270-3667. 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. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /S.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2417 /REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 2 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 3 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 4 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 5 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 6 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 7 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 8 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 9 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 10 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 11 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 12 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 13 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 14 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 15 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 16 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 17 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 18 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 19 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 20 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 21 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 22 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 23 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 24 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 25 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 26 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 27 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 28 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 29 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 30 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 31 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 32 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 33 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 34 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 35 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 36 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 37 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 38 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 39 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 40 Art Unit: 2417 Application/Control Number: 18/481,144 Page 41 Art Unit: 2417
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