Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/174,588

PDCCH MONITORING IN CARRIER AGGREGATION WITH MULTIPLE SERVING CELLS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 24, 2023
Examiner
LEE, CHI HO A
Art Unit
2475
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
92%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 6m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 92% — above average
92%
Career Allow Rate
1244 granted / 1353 resolved
+33.9% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+3.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
42 currently pending
Career history
1395
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.4%
-36.6% vs TC avg
§103
41.6%
+1.6% vs TC avg
§102
23.2%
-16.8% vs TC avg
§112
13.8%
-26.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1353 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . 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. Claims 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE et al PG PUB 2018/0041325 in view of Khoshnevisan et al PG PUB 2022/0022234. Re Claims 1, 8 and 15, LEE et al teaches receiving a UE (a processor and memory) receiving a PDCCH indicating a CIF one or more plurality of CC [0143] wherein for the received PDCCH (a particular PDCCH candidate), the UE determining a plurality of CCSs [0216] of based on the CIF and using the CCEs for decoding the PDCCH candidate for decoding a PDCCH scheduling a plurality of PDSCH (first and second) for the plurality of CCs (first and second) [0142 0143]; the UE receiving the plurality of PDSCH (first and second) based on the PDCCH. LEE et al fails to explicitly teach “….CIF associated with both a first CC and a second CC”. However, Khoshnevisan et al teaches a single DCI includes a CIF for scheduling multiple CCs [0086 0087] to support multiple TRP operation. One skilled in the art would motivated have to support TRP operation over multiple CCs to improve throughput. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled to have combined the teachings. Re Claims 2, 9 and 16, LEE et al teaches the configuring the UE via RRC signaling of CIF indicating the plurality of CCs (the first and second CCs) [0142]. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3-7, 10-14, 17-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Re Claims 3, 10 and 17, prior art fails to teach counting the blind decoding toward a count for a reference CC of the first CC and the second CC and not counting a count for the other CC of the first and second CC as claimed. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Conclusion Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 ANDREW LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3130. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5PM ET. 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, Hassan Kizou can be reached at 571272. 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. /ANDREW LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 24, 2023
Application Filed
May 08, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Aug 08, 2025
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Aug 11, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Sep 11, 2025
Response Filed
Oct 07, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Jan 07, 2026
Interview Requested
Jan 14, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Jan 14, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Feb 06, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 06, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Mar 17, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 09, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12604308
SEARCH SPACE CONFIGURATION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12598625
FEEDBACK CORRESPONDING TO UNIFIED TRANSMISSION CONFIGURATION INDICATORS IN SEMI-PERSISTENT SCHEDULING RELEASE DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION TRANSMISSIONS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12588023
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING WIRELESS SIGNAL IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12588102
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING DISCONTINUOUS RECEPTION FOR LAYER 2 MOBILITY IN MOBILE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12588051
TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING IN-BAND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION BY USER EQUIPMENT COORDINATION
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
92%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+3.9%)
2y 6m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 1353 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow 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