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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/26/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim1, 7, and 13 objected to because of the following informalities: “receive, from a base station, configuration information ” should read “receive, from a base station, configuration information [[on]]for one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources” to emphasis that the configuration information configures the PUCCH resources rather than (incorrectly) assuming that “receive” happens on the PUCCH resources. Appropriate correction is required.
Double Patenting
Claim1-3, 7-9 and 13-15 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 3-4, 7-8, and 15-16 of U.S. Patent No. 11665692 (hereinafter ‘692 Patent) and claims 3, 6, and 9 of U.S. Patent No. 11974281 (hereinafter ‘281 Patent) both in view of Matsumura et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0137937 (hereinafter Matsumura). The claims at issue are shown in the table below. It is noted that U.S. Patent No. 11974281 has a Terminal Disclaimer on file to avoid Double Patenting over of U.S. Patent No. 11665692.
Clm.
Present Application
Clm.
‘692 Patent
Clm.
‘281 Patent
1
A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: at least one transceiver: and a controller coupled to the at least one transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to:
1
A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: a transceiver
configured to:
… and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver . . .
1
A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: a processor; and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to:
receive, from a base station, configuration information on one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources indicating at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state and information on a TCI state application time
receive, from a base station, configuration information for one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states
receive, from a base station, configuration information for one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states
receive, from the base station, first downlink control information (DCI) comprising information indicating first one or more TCI states;
See 4(1) below
See 3(1) below
receive, from the base station, second DCI which is for scheduling of a PUCCH and comprises information indicating second one or more TCI states and an indicator for at least one PUCCH resource;
receive, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) indicating a TCI state from among the one or more TCI states, the processor configured to apply the indicated TCI state for receiving a downlink signal or for transmitting an uplink signal
receive, from the base station, downlink control information (DCI) indicating a TCI state from among the one or more TCI states, and perform reception of a downlink signal or transmission of an uplink signal, based on the indicated TCI state
and transmit the PUCCH to the base station
and transmit, to the base station, hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)
transmit, to the base station, hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH),
based on the first DCI, the second DCI, and the TCI state application time.
in response to the DCI or in response to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI;
in response to the DCI or in response to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI . . .
2(1)
wherein, in case that the DCI includes the downlink assignment, the HARQ-ACK information transmitted to the base station on the PUCCH corresponds to the PDSCH scheduled by the DCI indicating the TCI state.
2(1)
wherein the configuration information on the one or more PUCCH resources indicating the at least one TCI state and the information on the TCI state application time are received via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC), a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or DCI.
4(1)
. . . receive, from the base station, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for one or more activated TCI states from among the one or more TCI states, and
the DCI indicates the TCI state from among one or more activated TCI states.
3(1)
. . . receive, from the base station, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for one or more activated TCI states from among the one or more TCI states, and
the DCI indicates the TCI state from among one or more activated TCI states.
3(1)
wherein the information on the TCI state application time indicates one of application at a time before a beam application time (BAT) or application at a time after the BAT
3(1)
wherein: . . . the indicated TCI state is applied after a beam application time from transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the PUCCH, . . . . . . and the beam application time is configured by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
. . . wherein, . . . the indicated TCI state is applied after a beam application time from an end time of transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the PUCCH. . . wherein the beam application time is configured by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling
and wherein the BAT is a time from a last symbol of the PUCCH to a symbol after a certain period of time
7
A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: at least one transceiver; and a controller coupled to the at least one transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to:
5
A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: a transceiver configured to:
4
A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: a processor; and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information on one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources indicating at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state and information on a TCI state application time:
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states,
transmit, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states,
transmit, to the UE, first downlink control information (DCI) comprising information indicating first one or more TCI states;
transmit, to the UE, downlink control information (DCI) indicating a TCI state from among the one or more TCI states,
transmit. to the UE. second DCI which is for scheduling of a PUCCH and comprises information indicating second one or more TCI states and an indicator for at least one PUCCH resource:
and receive the PUCCH from the UE based on the first DCI, the second DCI, and the TCI state application time.
receive, from the UE, hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) in response to the DCI or in response to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI,
9(7)
wherein the information on the TCI state application time point indicates one of application at a time before a beam application time (BAT) or application at a time after the BAT,
and wherein the BAT is a time from a last symbol of the PUCCH to a symbol after a certain period of time.
7(5)
wherein: . . . the indicated TCI state is applied after a beam application time from receiving the HARQ-ACK information on the PUCCH, and the beam application time is configured by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
the indicated TCI state is applied after a beam application time from an end time of transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the PUCCH, wherein the beam application time is configured by a radio resource control (RRC) signaling,
8(7)
wherein the configuration information on the one or more PUCCH resources indicating the at least one TCI state and the information on the TCI state application time are transmitted via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or DCI.
8(5)
wherein: the transceiver is further configured to transmit, to the UE, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for one or more activated TCI states from among the one or more TCI states,
and the DCI indicates the TCI state from among one or more activated TCI states.
6(4)
wherein: the transceiver is further configured to transmit, to the UE, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for one or more activated TCI states from among the one or more TCI states,
and the DCI indicates the TCI state from among one or more activated TCI states.
Regarding Claim 2 of the present Application, each of the Claim 4 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 3 of the ‘281 Patent discloses the same UE components as in Claim 2 whereby the UE:
receives, from a base station, configuration information for one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states;
receives, from the base station, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for one or more activated TCI states from among the one or more TCI states;
receives, from the base station, a DCI indicating a TCI state from among the one or more activated TCI states, to be applied for receiving a downlink signal or for transmitting an uplink signal;
and transmits, to the base station, hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), i.e., the DCI above inherently indicates the scheduling of the PUCCH containing eth HARQ-ACK in addition to the TCI to be applied in the uplink, i.e., the PUCCH resource time and frequency domain;
in response to the DCI that indicates an active TCI state based on the received MAC CE and the configuration information.
Therefore, each of Claim 4 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 3 of the ‘281 Patent, discloses the same subject matter as Claim 2 of the present Application, except that:
the configuration information received from the base station does not comprise: 1. information on one or more PUCCH resources indicating the least one TCI state; and 2. information on a TCI state application time;
the first TCI state is activated by MAC CE rather than by a first DCI; and
the PUCCH is transmitted in response to the DCI that indicates an active TCI state based on the received MAC CE and the configuration information rather than based on the first DCI, the second DCI, and the TCI state application time;
the definition of the BAT.
However, Matsumura teaches:
configuration information on one or more PUCCH resources associated with respective TCI states (“[a] parameter (PUCCH configuration information or PUCCH-Config) used for PUCCH transmission may be configured for the UE by higher layer signaling ( e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) . . . for each partial band (e.g., uplink bandwidth part (BWP)) in a carrier (also referred to as a cell or a component carrier (CC))” – See [¶0112] comprising “a list of PUCCH resource set information (e.g., PUCCH-ResourceSet) and a list of PUCCH spatial relation information ( e.g., PUCCH-SpatialRelationinfo)” – See [¶0113] wherein a “PUCCH resource set information may include a list (e.g., resourceList) of PUCCH resource indices (IDs, for example, PUCCH-Resourceid)” – See [¶0114] whereby “a spatial relation information . . . and UL TCI state are interchangeable” – See [¶0203])
including information on a TCI state application time (“[t]he TCI application time may be defined by specifications, or may be configured by higher layer signaling” and “[t]he TCI application time may be the same as the application time” – See [¶0253])
Matsumura further teaches a first DCI on an activated TCI state for PDCCH indicating the TCI to receive a second DCI (“The UE may judge a TCI state for a UE-specific PDCCH (CORESET) on the basis of higher layer signaling” – See [¶0094] e.g., “TCI State Indication for UE-specific PDCCH MAC CE” and “perform monitoring of a CORESET on the basis of an active TCI state” – See [¶0095] e.g., to receive a DCI whereby “[a] value of the TCI field in the DCI may indicate one of the TCI states activated by the MAC CE” – See [¶0100]), whereby the second DCI is the DCI in Claim 4 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 3 of the ‘281 Patent. Furthermore, Matsumura teaches the same DCI like in Claim 4 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 3 of the ‘281 Patent (“when the specific UL transmission is a PUCCH to deliver HARQ-ACK, the PDCCH corresponding to the specific UL transmission may be a PDCCH to schedule a PDSCH and to indicate an HARQ-ACK timing for the PDSCH” – See [¶0229]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the UE configuration information in Claim 4 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 3 of the ‘281 Patent to add the standards specified PUCCH-Config RRC Information Element comprising PUCCH-ResourceSet and PUCCH-SpatialRelationinfo as well as a specified TCI state application time for each spatial relationship, motivated by the need for standards alignment, as taught in Matsumura. Furthermore, decoding a DCI indicating a TCI state to be used by the UE to monitor PDCCH carrying the second DCI is an obvious operation available to one of ordinary skills in the art e.g., for a case where the first TCI state/beam fails after the reception of the first DCI, as also taught in Matsumura.
Regarding Claim 3 of the present Application, the claimed limitation is anticipated by the species disclosed in Claim 3 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 3 of the ‘281 Patent, as shown in the table above. It is noted that the claimed definition of the BAT is the same as the one provided in the 3GPP specifications at the effective date of filing of the present application.
Regarding Claims 14-15 of the present Application, the same reasoning as above applies in comparison with Claims 15-16 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 9 of the ‘281 Patent because the present claims are to a method performed by the UE apparatus performing the same steps as in Claims 2-3 of the present Apparatus.
Regarding Claim 8-9 of the present Application, is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over Claim 7-8 of the ‘692 Patent and Claim 6 of the ‘281 Patent, each in view of Matsumura for the same reasons explained above in relationship with the UE but explained from the base station end.
In sum, Claims 1-3, 7-9 and 13-15 of the present application are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over Claims 3-4, 7-8, and 15-16 of the ‘692 Patent and Claims 3, 6 and 9 of the ‘281 Patent, each in view of Matsumura.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1, 5-7, 10-13 and their dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 7 and 13 first recite the limitation "at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state and information on a TCI state application time" then require a “first one or more TCI states” and a “second one or more TCI states” There is insufficient antecedent basis for the required “first” and “second” TCI states limitations in the claim because: (1) the claim language is unclear whether these TCI states are from among the “at least one TCI state”; and (2) assuming that the answer to (1) is “yes,” then when only one TCI state is configured the “first TCI state” and the “second TCI state” must be the same, and “first” and “second” adjectives are just surplusage. To eliminate confusion Applicant could indicate that: (1) the “configuration information” indicates at least two or TCI states; and (2) the first and second TCI are from the indicated at least two TCI states.
Claims 6 and 12 recite the limitation “the time before the BAT is a time between after a certain threshold period from a time at which the second DCI is received, and the time before the BAT”. The claim is indefinite because “the time before the BAT is” indicates a new assignment for “the time before BAT,” i.e., the old assignment from Claim 3 is lost, and the new assignment is dependent on “the time before the BAT” which is undefined at this point.1
Claims 5 and 11 require “a PUCCH resource indicating a . . . TCI state.” However, the language used for this limitation is inconsistent with the accepted meaning in the art. Where applicant acts as his or her own lexicographer to specifically define a term of a claim contrary to its ordinary meaning, the written description must clearly redefine the claim term and set forth the uncommon definition so as to put one reasonably skilled in the art on notice that the applicant intended to so redefine that claim term. Process Control Corp. v. HydReclaim Corp., 190 F.3d 1350, 1357, 52 USPQ2d 1029, 1033 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
Here, the Specification:[¶0628] defines “a PUCCH resource may be determined according to a UCI payload and a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) area in the scheduling DCI” whereby “even for PUCCH resources configured with the same resources, the number of beams to be applied and a beam. Application method may be configured differently,” and a person of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that a PUCCH resource (indicator) points to one or more specific time-frequency resource allocations as defined for the subcarrier spacing (SCS) and the bandwidth part (BWP) of the PUCCH channel. Because the TCI state is applied to a scheduled transmission on a PUCCH resource (e.g., as indicated in the DCI scheduling the transmission when TCIPresentlnDCI is enabled), a PUCCH resource cannot apriori (i.e., before receiving the DCI of higher-level TCI indication) indicate the TCI state used for transmission on that resource, as required by the claim language. The term “PUCCH resource indicating a . . . TCI state” is indefinite because the Specification does not clearly redefine the term to explain how the TCI state may be indicated by the PUCCH resource. A person of ordinary skills in the art would understand, in light of the Specification, that a DCI as claimed in Claims 1, 7, or 3, would indicate a TCI state among the TCI states activated for the PUCCH resources configured to the UE rather than a PUCCH resource indicating a TCI state indicated in a DCI. However, here, the claim language is "opaque, or otherwise unclear in describing and defining the claimed invention." In re Packard, 751 F.3d 1307, 1311, 110 USPQ2d 1785, 1787 (Fed. Cir. 2014). Because during patent examination, the pending claims must be given the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification – See In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054 (Fed. Cir. 1997); see also MPEP § 2111 - § 2111.01, Claims 5 and 11 will be examined under the interpretation that the one or more TCI states indicated by DCI are among the TCI states configured for the PUCCH resources, consistent with the Specification.
Claim 10 recites the limitations (1) “a time to be individually applied to the at least one TCI state, which is identified based on the information on the TCI state application time,” rendering unclear whether the identification is of “a time to be individually applied” in Claim 10 or “the at least one TCI state” in Claim 7 from which Claim 10 depends. A lack of antecedent basis rejection is proper when a claim contains words or phrases whose meaning is unclear – See 751 F.3d at 1314; see also MPEP § 2173.05(e). In addition, the limitation “the at least one TCI state corresponding to the at least one PUCCH resource among the second one or more TCI states” reads as if “the at least one PUCCH resource” belongs to the set of one or more PUCCH resources configured in Claim 7 and NOT “the second one or more TCI states” indicated in the second DCI and claimed in Claim 7. Claim 10 gets support from a clearer language in Specification:[¶763] (stating: “in order to transmit the PUCCH . . . the controller may be configured to identify at least one TCI state corresponding to the at least one PUCCH resource among the second one or more TCI states, identify a time point to be individually applied to the identified at least one TCI state, based on the information on the TCI state application time point, and transmit the PUCCH based on the identified at least one TCI state and the identified time point to be applied”). The claim is therefore indefinite because the claim language is “ambiguous, vague, incoherent, opaque, or otherwise unclear in describing and defining the claimed invention” – See 751 F.3d at 1311. Under the BRI standard, Claim 10 will be examined as understood by a person of ordinary skills in the art in light of the Specification.
In sum, Claims 1, 7, 13 and their dependent claims, including Claims 5-6 and 11-12 for specific reasons outlined above, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) as being indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 10-11, and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Matsumura et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0137937 (hereinafter Matsumura).
Regarding Claim 1, Matsumura teaches in Fig. 6 a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: at least one transceiver: and a controller coupled to the at least one transceiver (“the user terminal 20 may include one or more control sections 210, one or more transmitting/ receiving sections 220, and one or more transmitting/receiving
antennas 230” – See [¶0300] and Fig. 6), wherein the controller is configured (“The control section 210 may control transmission/reception, measurement and so on using the transmitting/receiving section 220, and the transmitting/receiving antennas 230. The control section 210 generates data, control information, a sequence and so on to transmit as a signal, and may forward the generated items to the transmitting/receiving section 220” – See [¶0303]) to:
receive, from a base station, configuration information on one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources (“[a] parameter (PUCCH configuration information or PUCCH-Config) used for PUCCH transmission may be configured for the UE by higher layer signaling ( e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) . . . for each partial band (e.g., uplink bandwidth part (BWP)) in a carrier (also referred to as a cell or a component carrier (CC))” – See [¶0112] comprising “a list of PUCCH resource set information (e.g., PUCCH-ResourceSet) and a list of PUCCH spatial relation information ( e.g., PUCCH-SpatialRelationinfo)” – See [¶0113] wherein a “PUCCH resource set information may include a list (e.g., resourceList) of PUCCH resource indices (IDs, for example, PUCCH-Resourceid)” – See [¶0114] whereby “a spatial relation information . . . and UL TCI state are interchangeable” – See [¶0203];)
indicating at least one transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state (“A channel for which the TCI state or spatial relation is configured (indicated) may be, for example . . . an uplink control channel (Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)” – See [¶0084] whereby a “TCI state is information related to quasi-colocation (QCL) of the signal/channel, and may be referred to as a spatial reception parameter, spatial relation information, and so on. The TCI state may be configured for the UE for each channel or for each signal” – See [¶0070] e.g., “[t]he PUCCH spatial relation information (e.g., an RRC information element "PUCCH-spatialRelationinfo") may indicate a plurality of candidate beams (spatial domain filters) for PUCCH transmission. The PUCCH spatial relation information may indicate a spatial relation between an RS (Reference signal) and the PUCCH” – See [¶0118] and “[e]ach piece of the PUCCH spatial relation information may include, for example, at least one of a PUCCH spatial relation information index (ID, for example, pucch-SpatialRelationinfoid), a serving cell index (ID, for example, servingCellid), and information related to an RS (reference RS) being in a spatial relation with the PUCCH” – See [¶0119]; furthermore, “[w]hen more than 8 kinds of TCI states are configured for the UE, 8 or less kinds of TCI states may be activated ( or designated) with use of a MAC CE. The MAC CE may be referred to as a TCI state activation/deactivation MAC CE for a UE-specific PDSCH (TCI States Activation/ Deactivation for UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE). A value of the TCI field in the DCI may indicate one of the TCI states activated by the MAC CE” – See [¶0100]) and
information on a TCI state application time (“one piece of PUCCH spatial relation information is active for one PUCCH resource at a given time” – See [¶0121] e.g., “[a]fter 3 ms from transmitting a positive acknowledgment (ACK) to a MAC CE to activate given PUCCH spatial relation information, the UE may activate PUCCH relation information designated by the MAC CE” – See [¶0125]; in addition “the UE may assume that time offset between a detected PDCCH and a PDSCH corresponding to the PDCCH is equal to or greater than a threshold value” – See [¶0105] whereby the “threshold value may be referred to as a time duration for QCL, "timeDurationForQCL," "Threshold," "Threshold for offset between a DCI indicating a TCI state and a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI," "Threshold-Sched-Offset," a schedule offset threshold value, a scheduling offset threshold value, and so on” – See [¶0107] which is in essence “a delay in PDCCH decoding and beam switching” expressed as “number of symbols for each piece of subcarrier spacing, or may be represented by time (e.g., μs)” – See [¶0108]; and “[t]he TCI application time may be defined by specifications, or may be configured by higher layer signaling” and “[t]he TCI application time may be the same as the application time” – See [¶0253]);
receive, from the base station, first downlink control information (DCI) comprising
information indicating first one or more TCI states (“[a] value of the TCI field in the DCI may indicate one of the TCI states activated by the MAC CE” – See [¶0100] e.g., “[w]hen the TCI presence information set to "enabled" for a CORESET to schedule the PDSCH (CORESET used for PDCCH transmission to schedule the PDSCH) is configured for the UE, the UE may assume that the TCI field exists in DCI . . . for a PDCCH transmitted on the CORESET” – See [¶0101] with the TCI-PresentlnDCI RRC parameter “indicating whether the TCI field is present or absent in the DCI” – See [¶0099] whereby the first DCI may be a non-scheduling DCI and “may include a given field (which may be referred to as, for example, a TCI field, a TCI state field, and so on) indicating a TCI state for [next PDCCH monitoring]” – See [¶0098]; therefore, the first DCI indicates on DL TCI state/beam to be used by the UE for further DL transmissions; in addition “[i]n NR, uplink signal transmission may be controlled on the basis of the presence or absence of beam correspondence (BC). The BC may be, for example, a capability of a given node (e.g., the base station or UE) to determine a beam used for signal transmission (transmit beam or Tx beam) on the basis of a beam used for signal reception (receive beam or Rx beam)”– See [¶0138])
receive, from the base station, second DCI which is for scheduling of a PUCCH and comprises information indicating second one or more TCI states and an indicator for at least one PUCCH resource (“when the specific UL transmission is scheduled or triggered by a PDCCH (DL DCI) for PDSCH scheduling,” i.e., a scheduling DCI, “[t]he specific UL transmission may be . . . a PUCCH to deliver HARQ-ACK for a PDSCH scheduled by the PDCCH” and “the PDCCH corresponding to the specific UL transmission may be a PDCCH to schedule a PDSCH and to indicate an HARQ-ACK timing for the PDSCH” and “the default spatial relation for the specific UL transmission may be a TCI state for the PDCCH” – See [¶0229], i.e., the UL TCI state is the same as the DL TCI state, e.g., in “a case that the UE supports beam correspondence” – See [¶0210] “a single active beam is used for UL and DL” – See [¶0213]); and
transmit the PUCCH to the base station based on the first DCI, the second DCI, and the TCI state application time (“the UE may apply the default spatial relation to a spatial relation for a specific UL transmission” – See [¶0209] e.g., the DL TCI state in the first DCI being the default DL/UL TCI state for a UE that supports beam correspondence applied to “a case that the specific UL transmission is based on a dedicated PUCCH configuration” – See [¶0210] i.e., as scheduled by the second DCI, whereby the DCI includes information for the time-domain PUCCH resource the default TCI state is to be applied to2).
Therefore, Claim 1 is anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claim 2, dependent from Claim 1, Matsumura further teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the configuration information on the one or more PUCCH resources indicating the at least one TCI state and the information on the TCI state application time are received via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC), a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or DCI (“a parameter (PUCCH configuration information or PUCCH-Config) used for PUCCH transmission may be configured for the UE by higher layer signaling ( e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling)” – See [¶0112] and the “UE may determine one PUCCH resource (index) in the above-described PUCCH resource set (e.g., a cell-specific or UE-dedicated PUCCH resource set to be determined) on the basis of at least one of a value of a given field ( e.g., a PUCCH resource indicator field) in downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or 1_1 used for scheduling of a PDSCH)” – See [¶0117]; a “MAC CE may be referred to as a TCI state activation/deactivation MAC CE for a UE-specific PDSCH (TCI States Activation/Deactivation for UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE) and “[a]value of the TCI field in the DCI may indicate one of the TCI states activated by the MAC CE” – See [¶0100] and the timeDurationForQCL parameter3 “may be configured for the UE by using higher layer signaling from the base station” – See [¶0108]).
Therefore, Claim 2 is anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claim 4, dependent from Claim 1, Matsumura further teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein in order to transmit the PUCCH based on the first DCI, the second DCI, and the TCI state application time, the controller is configured (“when the UE has . . . dedicated PUCCH resource configuration information (UE-dedicated uplink control channel configuration or dedicated PUCCH resource configuration) (after RRC set up), the UE may determine the PUCCH resource set in accordance with the number of UCI information bits” – See [¶0116]) to:
identify at least one TCI state corresponding to the at least one PUCCH resource among the second one or more TCI states (“the UE may control, on the basis of a PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE, so that one piece of PUCCH spatial relation information is active for one PUCCH resource at a given time” – See [¶0121], whereby a “condition for application of the default spatial relation may include the case that only one TCI state is active for a PDCCH and PDSCH (a case that the number of active TCI states for the PDCCH and PDSCH is 1 ). In a case where a single active beam is used for UL and DL, the simple UE operation is achieved” – See [¶0213] and “the UE may use, for determination of QCL of the PDSCH antenna port, a TCI depending on a TCI field value in a detected PDCCH including the DCI” – See [¶0103] i.e., the second DCI);
identify a time to be individually applied to the identified at least one TCI state, based on the information on the TCI state application time (“when the default spatial relation for the specific UL transmission is a TCI state for the specific DL resource and the TCI state is updated, the UE may update the default spatial relation for the specific UL transmission to the TCI state (the updated TCI state may be applied to the specific UL transmission)” – See [¶0255] whereby “[t]he TCI application time may be defined by specifications, or may be configured by higher layer signaling” and “[t]he TCI application time may be the same as the application time” – See [¶0253]); and
transmit the PUCCH based on the identified at least one TCI state and the identified time to be applied (“the UE can appropriately determine a transmit beam (spatial relation) for the specific UL transmission, and the base station can appropriately determine a receive beam for the specific UL transmission” – See [¶0256]).
Therefore, Claim 4 is anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claim 5, dependent from Claim 1, Matsumura further teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more PUCCH resources indicating the at least one TCI state (“The PUCCH configuration information may include a list of PUCCH resource set information (e.g., PUCCH-ResourceSet) and a list of PUCCH spatial relation information (e.g., PUCCH-SpatialRelationinfo)” – See [¶0113] whereby “PUCCH resource set information may include a list (e.g., resourceList) of PUCCH resource indices (IDs, for example, PUCCH-Resourceid)” – See [¶0114] whereby spatial relation information and UL TCI state are interchangeable – See [¶0203]; and “more than 8 kinds of TCI states may be configured for the UE” but “8 or less kinds of TCI states may be activated (or designated) with use of a MAC CE” and “[a] value of the TCI field in the DCI may indicate one of the TCI states activated by the MAC CE” – See [¶0100]) comprises at least one of
a PUCCH resource indicating a first TCI state among the second one or more TCI states (first, “the UE may determine the PUCCH resource set in accordance with the number of UCI information bits” – See [¶0116]; see also § 6.3.1.1.1, 3GPP 38.212 for determining the UCI bit sequence for when only HARQ-ACK bits are transmitted on a PUCCH; second, “when the specific UL transmission is a PUCCH, the DL signal corresponding to the specific UL transmission may be a PDSCH corresponding to the PUCCH (PDSCH corresponding to HARQ-ACK delivered on the PUCCH)” – See [¶0220] e.g., a PDSCH scheduled by the second DCI; and third, when “the specific UL transmission corresponds to a PDCCH (when the specific UL transmission is scheduled or triggered by a PDCCH (DL DCI) for PDSCH scheduling), the default spatial relation for the specific UL transmission may be a TCI state for the PDCCH” – See [¶0229] provided the “PUCCH resource (e.g., a dedicated PUCCH resource) having a spatial relation (e.g., an active spatial relation)” – See [¶0221] corresponding to the PDCCH TCI state)
a PUCCH resource indicating a second TCI state among the second one or more TCI states (“when the default spatial relation for the specific UL transmission is a TCI state for the specific DL resource and the TCI state is updated,” e.g., a second TCI state, different from the default TCI state, is indicated by the second DCI, “the UE may update the default spatial relation for the specific UL transmission to the TCI state (the updated TCI state may be applied to the specific UL transmission)” – See [¶0255]), or
a PUCCH resource indicating the first TCI state and the second TCI state among the second one or more TCI states.
Therefore, Claim 5 is anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claim 7, Matsumura teaches in Fig. 5 a base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising: at least one transceiver; and a controller coupled to the at least one transceiver (“The base station 10 includes a control section 110, a transmitting/receiving section 120, transmitting/receiving antennas 130 and a transmission line interface 140” – See [¶0283] and Fig. 5), wherein the controller is configured (“The control section 110 may generate data, control information, a sequence and so on to transmit as a signal, and forward the generated items to the transmitting/receiving section 120” – See [¶0286]) to perform the same actions as claimed in Claim 1only here from the base station end. Because Claim 1 is anticipated by Matsumura, Claim 7 is also anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claims 8 and 11, dependent from Claim 7, each claim recites the same limitations on the configuration information as recited in Claims 2 and 5, respectively, using the same language. Because Claims 2, 5 and 7 are anticipated by Matsumura, Claims 8 and 11 are also anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claim 10, dependent from Claim 7, Matsumura further teaches the base station of claim 7, wherein the PUCCH is received based on
a time to be individually applied to the at least one TCI state, which is identified based on the information on the TCI state application time (“The TCI application time may be defined by specifications, or may be configured by higher layer signaling,” e.g., “the TCI application time may be K' symbols” – See [¶0253] therefore the time is TCI state specific; furthermore, “The TCI application time may be the same as the application time” – See id., whereby a beam application time is described infra), and
the at least one TCI state corresponding to the at least one PUCCH resource among the second one or more TCI states (“when the specific UL transmission is a PUCCH to deliver HARQ-ACK, the PDCCH corresponding to the specific UL transmission may be a PDCCH to schedule a PDSCH and to indicate an HARQ-ACK timing for the PDSCH” – See [¶0229] whereby the PDCCH to schedule a PDSCH is the second DCI indicating: (1) the PUCCH carrying the HARQ-ACK is K slots later than the last PDSCH symbol carrying the DL data, whereby “[t]he UE may determine one PUCCH resource (index) in the above-described PUCCH resource set (e.g., a cell-specific or UE-dedicated PUCCH resource set to be determined) on the basis of at least one of a value of a given field ( e.g., a PUCCH resource indicator field) in downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or 1_1 used for scheduling of a PDSCH)” – See [¶0117]; and (2) a new TCI state for the PDSCH which will be also used for further UL transmissions whereby the TCI state is among the “PUCCH spatial relation information (e.g., an RRC information element "PUCCH-spatialRelationinfo") . . . indicat[ing] a plurality of candidate beams (spatial domain filters) for PUCCH transmission” – See [¶0118]).
Matsumura specifically discloses “the UE may activate a PUCCH relation information [newly] designated,” e.g., by the second DCI, “[a]fter 3 ms from transmitting a positive acknowledgment (ACK) to a [DCI] to activate given PUCCH spatial relation information,” i.e., the second one or more TCI states – See [¶0125]; see also 3GPP TS 38.214, at page 42, providing: “When the UE would transmit the last symbol of a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the DCI carrying the TCI-State indication . . . corresponding to the PDSCH scheduling by the DCI carrying the TCI-State indication, and if the indicated TCI-State is different from the previously indicated one, the indicated [TCI-State] with [tci-StateId_r17] should be applied starting from the first slot that is at least BeamAppTime_r17 symbols after the last symbol of the PUCCH. The first slot and the BeamAppTime_r17 symbols are both determined on the carrier with the smallest SCS among the carrier(s) applying the beam indication. The UE can assume one indicated [TCI-State] with [tci-StateId_r17] for DL and UL, for DL only, or for UL only at a time.”
Therefore, Claim 10 is anticipated by Matsumura.
Regarding Claims 13-14, Matsumura further teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system (“radio communication system, the radio communication method according to each embodiment of the present disclosure described” – See [¶0257]), the method comprising: the steps performed by the UE of Claims 1-2, recited with the same language. Because Claims 1-2 are anticipated by Matsumura, Claims 13-14 are also anticipated by Matsumura.
In sum, Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 10-11, and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Matsumura.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura as applied to claim 1, 7, and 13 above, and further in view of § 8.17, "Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #116bis-e Online 17 - 25 January, 2022," R2-2202102, Source: ETSI MCC, published March 5, 2022(hereinafter 3GPP RAN2 116e Report), referencing companies contributions (Tdocs) on NR Rel-17 feMIMO published before the effective filing date of the present Application.
Regarding Claim 3, dependent from Claim 1, Matsumura further teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the information on the TCI state application time indicates one of application at a time (“The TCI application time may be defined by specifications, or may be configured by higher layer signaling . . . may be represented by the number of symbols, may be represented by the number of symbols for each piece of subcarrier spacing, or may be represented by time (e.g., unit of μs)” and “may be the same as the application time, or may be different from the application time. For example, the TCI application time may be K' symbols. K' may be the same as K, or may be different from K” – See [¶0253] (emphasis added) whereby “[w]hen PUCCH transmission depends on detection of DCI format l_0 or DCI format l_l by the UE, Kpucch (i) may be the number of symbols in active UL BWP b for carrier f with serving cell c after the last symbol of corresponding PDCCH reception and before the first symbol of the PUCCH transmission” – See [¶0051]). However, Matsumura does not teach: (1) a beam application time (BAT); and (2) a TCI application time relationship with BAT.
Section 8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report (the Report) lists references 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #116 Electronic, R2-2200015, Title: “Report of [Post116-e][086][feMIMO] RRC (Ericsson),” Source: Ericsson, published November 2021 (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2200015) wherein the meaning of the beam application time parameter BeamAppTime_r17 was discussed and agreements are provided at page 14-15,
wherein the BAT is a time from a last symbol of the PUCCH to a symbol after a certain period of time (stating “On Rel-17 DCI-based beam indication, regarding application time of the beam indication, the first slot that is at least X ms or Y symbols after the last symbol of the acknowledgment of the joint or separate DL/UL beam indication,” whereby the acknowledgment is sent in a PUCCH, and further stating that “On Rel-17 DCI-based beam indication, regarding application time of the beam indication, the UE can assume that one beam application time (BAT) for a given SCS is configured for all the CCs configured with the common TCI state ID update”) and concluding, at page 16, that BAT is configurable to the UE and is the same for a given SCS.
In addition, the Report references 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #116 Electronic, R2-2200316, Title: “Unified TCI Framework Operation from RAN2 Perspectives,” Source: MediaTek, published November 2021 (hereinafter 3GPP R2-2200316), providing, in § 2.1, at page 1-2, that “[t]he unified TCI framework operates in a manner similar to PDSCH TCI states in Rel-15/16 TCI frameworks” as shown in Figure 1, adding the “joint DL/UL TCI state” whereby, as provided at page 4, “[w]hen UE is configured with joint DL/UL TCI, one TCI state codepoint may be used to indicate a joint TCI state” and the TCI state activation MAC CE does not need to indicate whether that TCI state ID is for DL or UL, contrasting with the case “[w]hen UE is configured with separate DL/UL TCI, one TCI state codepoint may be used to indicate a DL-only TCI state, a UL-only TCI state, or a DL plus a UL TCI state” whereby the activation MAC CE should also contain a D/U bit indication for each TCI state ID. Thus, when like in Matsumura, the UE is configured for beam reciprocity (BC) and/or is indicated to use the same UL beam/TCI state for the PUCCH (e.g., acknowledging a PDSCH scheduled by the second DCI) as the DL beam/TCI state indicated in the first DCI (e.g., indicating a joint DL/UL TCI state/beam to further monitor the PDCCH for the second DCI), the TCI application time is before BAT because the UE already knows the DL and UL TCI states are the same4.
Thus, Matsumura and § 8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report, each discloses an acknowledgment of a DCI (e.g., scheduling a PDSCH and a UL/DL TCI state) sent in a PUCCH. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the beam application time (BAT) defined in §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report documents as time (in symbols or ms) after the last symbol of the acknowledgment of the joint DL/UL beam indication (e.g., in a DCI or MAC CE) can be applied to the beam indication sent in Matsumura5 for using the same beam in UL/DL because both indications serve the purpose of setting the UL beam for the PUCCH. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the substitution through techniques known in the art. Finally, the substitution achieves the predictable result of aligning the beam application time in Matsumura with the new RRC parameters related to beam application time defined in NR Rel-17, as taught in §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report6.
Therefore, Claim 3 is obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report.
Regarding Claim 6, dependent from Claim 3, Matsumura further teaches the UE of claim 3, wherein the time before the BAT is a time between after a certain threshold period from a time at which the second DCI is received, and the time before the BAT (“The time offset between reception of DL DCI and reception of a PDSCH corresponding to the DCI may be referred to as scheduling offset” – See [¶0106], and the PUCCH resource indicated by the second DCI for ACK-feedback is–at the earliest–after the PDSCH, therefore the time before the BAT includes the scheduling offset7).
Therefore, Claim 6 is obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report.
Regarding Claims 9 and 12, dependent from Claim 7, each claim recites the same limitations on the configuration information as recited in Claims 3 and 6, respectively, using the same language. Because Claims 3 and 6 are obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report, and Claim 7 is anticipated by Matsumura, Claims 9 and 11 are obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report.
Regarding Claim 15, dependent from Claim 13, Matsumura further teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: the steps performed by the UE of Claim 3, recited with the same language. Because Claim 3 is obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report, and Claim 13 is anticipated by Matsumura, Claims 15 is obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report.
In sum, Claims 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over Matsumura in view §8.17, 3GPP RAN2 116e Report.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Matsumura et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0128435 disclosing method and terminal whereby the UE receives a downlink shared channel scheduled by downlink control information, and a control section that determines, on the basis of at least one of a TCI state (Transmission Configuration Indication state) applied to the downlink shared channel and information notified by the downlink control information, a spatial relation or TCI state applied to an uplink channel corresponding to the downlink control information;
Yuan et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0119914 disclosing a user equipment (UE) may receive a configuration for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for a transmission that uses multiple beams in a common time domain resource;
Kang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0084640 discloses a UE transmitting, to the base station, the uplink control channel via a single beam or a plurality of beams, in which the number of beams may be determined based on at least one of measurement information by a downlink reference signal received by the base station or a type of uplink control information;
Zhang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0303054 discloses apparatuses, systems, and methods for a user equipment device (UE) to perform PUCCH repetition based on signaling from at least one base station;
Liu, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0236708 discloses an uplink channel transmission method at a terminal device whereby two adjacent repetitive transmissions of same data in an uplink channel on a first transmission resource and a second transmission resource respectively;
Go et al., EPO Patent Application Publication No. EP 4262102 disclosing beam application time and a user equipment (UE) for receiving downlink control information (DCI) related to one or more TCI states of a plurality of TCI states, and determining a specific TCI state among the one or more TCI states based on the DCI;
3GPP TS 38.212 V17.0.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.213 V17.0.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.214 V17.0.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.331 v16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 17)”;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #116 Electronic, R2-2200316, Title: “Unified TCI Framework Operation from RAN2 Perspectives,” Source: MediaTek, published November 2021;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #116 Electronic, R2-2200015, Title: “Report of [Post116-e][086][feMIMO] RRC (Ericsson),” Source: Ericsson, published November 2021;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #116bis-e, R2-2202000, Title: “Running RRC CR for FeMIMO Rel-17,” Source: Ericsson, published January 2022.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 While an algorithm would understand the assignment of a new BAT value based on the old BAT value, here, the definition of the BAT is circular.
2 See e.g., §7.3.1.2, 3GPP TS 38.212 V17.0.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP 38.212) providing, at page 151, that a DCI scheduling a PDSCH transmission comprises “PUCCH resource indicator – 3 bits as defined in Clause 9.2.3 of [5, TS38.213]” and “PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator – 3 bits as defined in Clause 9.2.3 of [5, TS38.213]” and at page 156, “Transmission configuration indication – 0 bit if higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI is not enabled; otherwise 3 bits as defined in Clause 5.1.5 of [6, TS38.214].”
3 See, e.g., §5.1.5, 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.0.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.214) providing, at page 42, UE behavior depending on tci-PresentInDCI and timeDurationForQCL; see also § 5.2.1.5.1a, providing at page 76, in Table 5.2.1.5.1a-1, beam switching timing delay d in number of symbols, depending on subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the cell/carrier/BWP, when the RRC parameter enableBeamSwitchTiming is enabled for that serving cell, including other timing parameters such as with minimumSchedulingOffsetK0 for any DL BWP or minimumSchedulingOffsetK2 for any UL BWP.
4 Contrast with a case where the second, scheduling DCI indicates the PUCCH resource carrying the HARQ-ACK of the scheduled PDSCH being K slots/symbols after the last symbol of the scheduled PDSCH is received, and K has a duration longer than BAT, then a TCI state for the UL, if indicated in the second DCI, has a TCI application time after the BAT.
5 Matsumura defines a similar concept – See [¶0125] (“After 3 ms from transmitting a positive acknowledgment
(ACK) to a MAC CE to activate given PUCCH spatial relation information, the UE may activate PUCCH relation information designated by the MAC CE” whereby the 3ms could be the BAT); see also [¶0245] (“The application time may be defined by specifications, or may be configured by higher layer signaling”).
6 The parameter BeamAppTime_r17 is already defined in 3GPP TS 38.214, at page 42, providing: “When the UE would transmit the last symbol of a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the DCI carrying the TCI-State indication and without DL assignment, or corresponding to the PDSCH scheduling by the DCI carrying the TCI -State indication, and if the indicated TCI-State is different from the previously indicated one, the indicated [TCI-State] with [tci-StateId_r17] should be applied starting from the first slot that is at least BeamAppTime_r17 symbols after the last symbol of the PUCCH. The first slot and the BeamAppTime_r17 symbols are both determined on the carrier with the smallest SCS among the carrier(s) applying the beam indication. The UE can assume one indicated [TCI-State] with [tci-StateId_r17] for DL and UL, for DL only, or for UL only at a time.”
7 See, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.331 v16.7.0 (2021-12), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 17)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331); specifying, at page 532, the fields of the PUCCH-Config Information Element referenced in Mastumura:[¶0112], including the dl-DataToUL-ACK field, indicating timing from a given PDSCH to the DL ACK.
Prosecution Insights