Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 17/824,509

TRANSMISSION INSTRUCTION METHOD, DEVICE, TERMINAL, BASE STATION AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
May 25, 2022
Priority
Mar 29, 2019 — CN 201910253399.7 +2 more
Examiner
AJID, ABDELTIF
Art Unit
2478
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
ZTE CORPORATION
OA Round
6 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
6-7
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
276 granted / 360 resolved
+18.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+12.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
387
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.2%
-39.8% vs TC avg
§103
85.7%
+45.7% vs TC avg
§102
11.3%
-28.7% vs TC avg
§112
1.4%
-38.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 360 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Response to Amendment Acknowledgment is made of Applicant's submission of amendment, dated on 12/18/2025. This communication is considered fully responsive and sets forth below: Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 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 -20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Jeon et al . US 2021/0377876 A1 Regarding claims 1 and 6, Jeon et al . US 2021/0377876 A1 discloses 1- A transmission indication method, applied to a terminal, comprising: 6- A device comprising a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the computer instructions, the processor is configured to cause the device to [0209]The wireless device may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non-transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314), receiving, from a base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling comprising a path loss (PL) reference signal (RS) resource pool [0433] discloses the wireless device is configured with a number of RS resource indexes, up to the value of maxNrofPUSCH-PathlossReferenceRSs (i.e., path loss (PL) reference signal (RS) resource pool) the PL RS resource pool comprising at least one PL RS resource[0433] The wireless device identifies an RS resource index qd in the set of RS resource indexes, wherein [0466] the wireless device calculate downlink pathloss PLb,f,c (qd) using RS resource index qd ; ( see also [0494]), receiving, from the base station, a control signaling comprising an indicator indicating a PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool and to be activated by the terminal[0339], the base station may activate one or more configured SRS resource sets of a serving cell by sending a semi-persistent SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE (i.e., a control signaling), (see also [0340], a base station may configure a wireless device with one or more SRS resource sets ,the wireless device may receive, from the base station, an activation command (e.g., a semi-persistent SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE) for an SRS resource set of the one or more SRS resource sets), wherein an activation time of the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool is determined by a sending time of hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling associated with a physical downlink shared channel carrying the control signaling [0340] the wireless device may transmit an HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH in a slot n, in response to the transmitting the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH in the slot n, the wireless device may apply one or more assumptions/actions for an SRS transmission of the SRS resource set with a time offset (e.g., starting from the slot n+3Nslot subframe,μ+1) (i.e., activation time); and transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool [0226] In uplink, a UE transmits one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a base station. For example, the one or more RSs may is Sounding RS (SRS), wherein [0229] UE transmit SRS (i.e., Uplink reference signal) to a base station using an SRS resource set configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter). Regarding claims 11 and 15 Jeon et al . US 2021/0377876 A1 discloses 11. (Previously presented) A transmission indication method, applied to a base station, comprising: 15. (Previously presented) A device comprising a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the computer instructions [0195] The base station , may comprise at least one communication interface , at least one processor 321A, and at least one set of program code instructions stored in non-transitory memory and executable by the at least one processor ) the processor is configured to cause the device to: transmitting, to a User Equipment (UE), an RRC signaling comprising a PL RS resource pool, the PL RS resource pool comprising at least one PL RS resource; [0433] discloses the wireless device is configured with a number of RS resource indexes, up to the value of maxNrofPUSCH-PathlossReferenceRSs (i.e. path loss (PL) reference signal (RS) resource pool),the wireless device identifies an RS resource index qd in the set of RS resource indexes, wherein [0466] the wireless device calculate downlink pathloss PLb,f,c (qd) using RS resource index qd ; transmitting, to the UE, a control signaling comprising an indicator indicating a PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool and to be activated by the terminal[0339], the base station may activate one or more configured SRS resource sets of a serving cell by sending a semi-persistent SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE (i.e., a control signaling), (see also [0340]a base station may configure a wireless device with one or more SRS resource sets ,the wireless device may receive, from the base station, an activation command (e.g., a semi-persistent SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE) for an SRS resource set of the one or more SRS resource sets), wherein an activation time of the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool is determined by a sending time of hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling associated with a physical downlink shared channel carrying the control signaling[0340] the wireless device may transmit an HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH in a slot n, in response to the transmitting the HARQ-ACK for the PDSCH in the slot n, the wireless device may apply one or more assumptions/actions for an SRS transmission of the SRS resource set with a time offset (e.g., starting from the slot n+3Nslot subframe,μ+1) (i.e., activation time); and receiving an uplink reference signal, the uplink reference signal being based on the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool[0226] In uplink, a UE transmits one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a base station. For example, the one or more RSs may is Sounding RS (SRS), wherein [0229] UE transmit SRS (i.e., Uplink reference signal) to a base station using an SRS resource set configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter),. Regarding claims 2, and 7, Jeon discloses all the features with respect to claims1, and 6, respectively. Jeon further discloses associating the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool with a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set. [0433] discloses the wireless device is configured with a number of RS resource indexes, up to the value of maxNrofPUSCH-PathlossReferenceRSs (i.e. path loss (PL) reference signal (RS) resource pool), the wireless device identifies an RS resource index qd in the set of RS resource indexes, wherein [0466] the wireless device calculate downlink pathloss PLb,f,c (qd) using RS resource index qd Regarding claims 3,8,12 and 16, Jeon discloses all the features with respect to claims1,6,11 and 15, respectively. Jeon further discloses wherein the uplink reference signal is used for beam management [0229]- [0228] discloses a base station configures a UE with one or more SRS resources. An SRS resource is configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter, when a higher layer parameter indicates beam management, an SRS resource in each of one or more SRS resource sets may be transmitted at a time instant , a codebook mode [0313] A base station may configure the wireless device with at least one of the one or more SRS resource set for the codebook-based transmission, a non-codebook mode, or antenna switching [0377] An existing technology (e.g., 4G and/or 5G) may support a beam management mechanism based on multiple antenna groups (e.g., panels). For example, a base station may use an information element to control one or more antenna groups (e.g., panels). For example, one or more SRS resource sets may be used to identify (and/or control) one or more antenna groups (e.g., panels), e.g., configure an SRS resource set per an antenna group (e.g., panel). The base station may schedule DL and/or UL transmission via one or more antenna groups, for example, based on the associated one or more SRS resource sets. For example, two UL transmissions may be scheduled via two different antenna groups (e.g., panels) simultaneously. For example, two UL transmissions may be scheduled in different time instants via two different antenna groups (e.g., panels). For example, a wireless device may switch between two antenna groups for the two UL transmissions, e.g., one UL transmission via one antenna group (e.g., panel) for a first time instant and the other UL transmission via the other antenna group (e.g., panel) for a second time instant. Regarding claims 4, 9, 13 and 17, Jeon discloses all the features with respect to claims1,6,11, and 15, respectively. Jeon further discloses wherein the control signaling comprises a media access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling [0339], the base station may activate one or more configured SRS resource sets of a serving cell by sending a semi-persistent SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE (i.e., a control signaling), (see also [0340], a base station may configure a wireless device with one or more SRS resource sets ,the wireless device may receive, from the base station, an activation command (e.g., a semi-persistent SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE) for an SRS resource set of the one or more SRS resource sets). Regarding claims 5, 10,14and 18, Jeon all the features with respect to claims1, 6,11 and 15 respectively. Jeon further discloses wherein the uplink reference signal comprises a channel sounding reference signal [0226] In uplink, a UE transmits one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a base station. For example, the one or more RSs may is Sounding RS (SRS), wherein [0229] UE transmit SRS (i.e., Uplink reference signal) to a base station using an SRS resource set configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter). Regarding claim 19 Jeon discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable program medium with computer code stored thereupon, the computer code, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to implement a method of claim 1 [0209]The wireless device may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non-transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314). Regarding claim 20, Jeon discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable program medium with computer code stored thereupon, the computer code, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to implement a method of claim 11[0195] The base station , may comprise at least one communication interface , at least one processor 321A, and at least one set of program code instructions stored in non-transitory memory and executable by the at least one processor ) . Response to Remarks/Arguments Applicant’s argument: Applicant argued that the references cited do not disclose “receiving, from the base station, a control signaling comprising an indicator indicating a PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool and to be activated by the terminal, wherein an activation time of the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool is determined by a sending time of hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling associated with a physical downlink shared channel carrying the control signaling; and transmitting an uplink reference signal based on the PL RS resource selected from the PL RS resource pool” as cited in claim1 , based on the fact that reference cited Jeon does not disclose I)"determining power control parameter of the uplink reference signal according to a power control parameter at a sending moment of the triggered uplink reference signal” , II)conflates the SRS resource set with Path Loss Reference Signal (PL RS) resource, or SRS with PL RS Examiner’s response: Applicant’s argument with respect to the pending claims have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive for at least the following reasons: I)First of all, the limitation "determining power control parameter of the uplink reference signal according to a power control parameter at a sending moment of the triggered uplink reference signal” is not cited the claim to be address. Thus, Examiner does not address the limitations does not cite in claims. II)Regarding conflates the SRS resource set with Path Loss Reference Signal (PL RS) resource, or SRS with PL RS, Examiner does not agree with Application since the reference teaches the inventive concept of the application for example, the wireless device receives a number of RS resource indexes( Path Loss Reference Signal (PL RS))), the set of RS resource indexes may comprise a SS/PBCH block index, and a set of CSI-RS resource indexes , where the wireless device identifies an RS resource index qd in the set of RS resource indexes, ([0433]); the wireless device calculate downlink pathloss PLb,f,c (qd) using RS resource index qd ( [0466]), Furthermore jeon discloses in paragraph[0340] SRS resources are associated with the reference signal resources which used for calculating pathloss ; the activation command may comprise one or more spatial relation assumptions for one or more SRS resources of the SRS resource set. In an example, a first field (e.g., Resource ID) in the activation command may comprise an identifier of a resource (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS,) used for spatial relationship derivation for an SRS resource of the one or more SRS resources, the reference RS may be an SSB, a CSI-RS resource; after that [0226] In uplink, a UE transmits one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a base station,wherein the one or more RSs may is Sounding RS (SRS), wherein [0229] UE transmit SRS (i.e., Uplink reference signal) to a base station using an SRS resource set configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter. Thus, Examiner does not conflate the SRS resource set with Path Loss Reference Signal (PL RS) resource, or SRS with PL RS. Based on the fact, Examiner respectfully disagrees that the prior art cited does not teach the limitation of the independent claim 1, as argued by applicants. The other Independent Claims, recite features analogous to those of Claim 1, the cited passages teach the other independent claims, as well. Furthermore, the cited passages teach dependent claims, as well. Conclusion 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 ABDELTIF AJID whose telephone number is (571)272-7749. The examiner can normally be reached 9 am -5 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, Joseph Avellino can be reached at (571)272-3905. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ABDELTIF AJID/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Show 11 earlier events
Feb 28, 2025
Response Filed
Mar 28, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Jun 11, 2025
Response Filed
Sep 23, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Dec 18, 2025
Response Filed
Jan 12, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Mar 09, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Mar 11, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12638510
BATTERY MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD
4y 8m to grant Granted May 26, 2026
Patent 12641479
NETWORK CAPACITY PLANNING CONSIDERING THE CONTROL PLANE BOTTLENECK
3y 9m to grant Granted May 26, 2026
Patent 12640785
TRANSMITTING AN UPLINK TRANSMISSION USING A PRECODING MATRIX DERIVED FROM AN ANALOG PRECODING MATRIX INDICATION
3y 4m to grant Granted May 26, 2026
Patent 12640980
INTELLIGENT NETWORK
2y 8m to grant Granted May 26, 2026
Patent 12634974
DISTRIBUTED UNIT SCHEDULING FOR CUSTOM SIGNAL TRAFFIC
4y 0m to grant Granted May 19, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

6-7
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+12.8%)
3y 1m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 360 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month