Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/185,716

NOISE MODELING FOR IMPROVED PROFILE MANAGEMENT

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Mar 17, 2023
Examiner
AHMED, ATIQUE
Art Unit
2413
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Comcast Cable Communications LLC
OA Round
2 (Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
373 granted / 464 resolved
+22.4% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
497
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.7%
-37.3% vs TC avg
§103
79.0%
+39.0% vs TC avg
§102
5.0%
-35.0% vs TC avg
§112
10.6%
-29.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 464 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 . 2. Restriction requirement was issued on 07/17/2025 with requirement to elect a group from Group I consist of claims 1-4, 6-10, 11, 13 Fig. 2B-G, Fig. 3, Fig. 4 Group II consists of claims 5, 12, 14-20, Fig. 2A, Fig. 5 The applicant elected on 09/05/2025 Group I consist of claims 1-4, 6-10, 11, 13 Fig. 2B-G, Fig. 3, Fig. 4 Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on *** has been placed in record and considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 3. 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. Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gutman et al. (CN 114982161 A) hereinafter Gutman and further in view of Li et al. (CN 109525299 A) hereinafter Li; translated copies of foreign documents are attached As to claim 1. Gutman teaches A method comprising: determining, based on noise data associated with a communication channel of a network device and one or more client devices, a noise model([0079], BS 110 may determine a plurality of SNR model indicating to UE 120 for one or more downlink communication of the SNR of model or more time slots, SNR model may be determined based at least in part on at least one of an MCS, a rank, or a combination thereof.) determining, based on the noise model,([0067] Fig. 1, Fig. 4, The BS 110 may determine an MCS and a rank to be used for one or more downlink communications in one or more slots (e.g., slot n 415, slot n+1 420, and/or the like) and determine the SNR mode based at least in part on at least one of the MCS, the rank, or a combination thereof.) and sending data indicative of the modulation profile. ([0045]select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS(s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs.) Gutman does not teach based on applying a modulation profile of a plurality of modulation profiles, an expected noise metric associated with the communication channel; selecting, based on the expected noise metric, the modulation profile for the network device Li teaches based on applying a modulation profile of a plurality of modulation profiles, an expected noise metric associated with the communication channel;([0053][0054] subset of coding and modulation schemes is selected from 28 schemes given in the DVB-S2 standard based on the distribution range of the channel signal-to-noise ratio and the signal-to-noise ratio threshold value/model, of each coding and modulation scheme; the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is predicted and matched with the SNR threshold/model of each selected coding scheme to select the optimal coding modulation scheme) selecting, based on the expected noise metric, the modulation profile for the network device; ([0054] the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is predicted and matched with the SNR threshold of each selected coding scheme to select the optimal coding modulation scheme. Based on the SNR prediction result, i.e. the first value obtained by the first calculation module, the transmission scheme that is more suitable for the channel state is selected for the next round of transmission, i.e., the optimal coding modulation scheme.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Li with the teaching of Gutman because Li teaches that signal-to-noise ratio prediction and coding-modulation scheme selection at the ground receiving terminal would reduce the burden on the gateway station. (Li [0043]) As to claim 2 the combination of Gutman and Li specifically Li teaches wherein the expected noise metric comprises one or more of an amount of noise or a level of noise. ([0070] during satellite communication, the signal-to-noise ratio threshold of the coding and modulation scheme must be higher than the actual value of the current channel signal-to-noise ratio for 99% of the link visibility time,) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Li with the teaching of Gutman because Li teaches that signal-to-noise ratio prediction and coding-modulation scheme selection at the ground receiving terminal would reduce the burden on the gateway station. (Li [0043]) As to claim 4. the combination of Gutman and Li specifically Li teaches wherein the noise model comprises one or more of noise amplitude distribution data, noise duration distribution data, or noise interval distribution data.([0053] subset of coding and modulation schemes is selected based on the distribution range of the channel signal-to-noise ratio and the signal-to-noise ratio threshold value of each coding and modulation scheme.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Li with the teaching of Gutman because Li teaches that signal-to-noise ratio prediction and coding-modulation scheme selection at the ground receiving terminal would reduce the burden on the gateway station. (Li [0043] As to claim 6 the combination of Gutman and Li specifically Li teaches wherein selecting the modulation profile comprises determining that the modulation profile satisfies one or more conditions associated with network performance. ([0092] predicts the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the next round of communication based on the channel state information, and selects the optimal coding scheme for communication based on the predicted SNR. that can maximize the utilization of channel resources and improve system performance by adaptively optimizing the coding and modulation scheme.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Li with the teaching of Gutman because Li teaches that signal-to-noise ratio prediction and coding-modulation scheme selection at the ground receiving terminal would reduce the burden on the gateway station. (Li [0043] As to claim 7. the combination of Gutman and Li specifically Gutman teaches wherein sending data indicative of the modulation profile comprises one or more of sending an identifier of the modulation profile, sending a command to use the modulation profile for a channel, sending a message to the network device, or sending a message to the one or more client devices. ([0084] Figure 6, he UE (e.g., using the receiving processor 258, controller/processor 280, memory 282. and so on) can be received from the base station in the first time slot to a plurality of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in model or more time slot after the first time slot occurs after the one or more downlink communication of the SNR model the indication of the downlink communication, as described above. In some aspects, different SNR model a plurality of SNR model support different modulation and coding scheme, at least one of different rank or a combination thereof.) Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gutman. Li and further in view of Azenko et al. (US 20050039103 A1)hereinafter Azenko As to claim 3. the combination of Gutman and Li specifically does not teach wherein the noise data comprises measurements of upstream noise transmitted from the one or more client devices to the network device. Azenko teaches wherein the noise data comprises measurements of upstream noise transmitted from the one or more client devices to the network device. ([0025] CMTS upstream receivers are responsible for making various measurements on the upstream logical channels they receive. Bit error rate, byte error rate, packet loss rate and channel SNR are measurements many CMTS upstream receivers make) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Azenko with the teaching of Gutman and Li because Azenko teaches that upstream noise measurement would allow to deciding whether to alter the upstream burst profile in each particular logical channel.(Azenko [0025]) Claim(s) 8, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. (CN 109804676 A) hereinafter Zhou and Gutman; translated copies of foreign documents are attached As to claim 8 Zhou teaches A method comprising: determining, by a network device, a condition associated with access to a network([0123][0125] the first device can be an AP, and the second device can be a STA, the first device can be configured to determine a first packet error rate corresponding to a first modulation and coding scheme based on a first SINR.) selecting, based on the condition and based on associated with the network, a modulation profile for accessing a communication channel of the network; ([0123][0124[0125] the first device/AP, can be configured to select the first modulation and coding scheme based on the first SINR/noise mode, by being configured to select the first modulation and coding scheme based on the first packet error rate being less than a threshold value) and causing a client device to use the modulation profile for accessing the communication channel of the network. ([0123][0130] the first device can be configured to select a first modulation and coding scheme based on transmit power-related information for scheduling uplink transmission with the second device according to the first modulation and coding scheme.) Zhou does not specifically Teach a noise model Gutman teaches a noise model ([0062][0079], switching to different SNR modes in the middle of a time slot can add nonlinear performance degradation/network condition , BS 110 may determine a plurality of SNR model indicating to UE 120 for one or more downlink communication of the SNR of model or more time slots; associated with network) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Gutman with the teaching of Zhou because Gutman teaches that signaling indicating SNR modes, can achieve these power savings without increasing transmission overhead and improve operational efficiency. (Gutman [0074]) As to claim 13. The combination of Zhou and Gutman specifically Gutman teaches , wherein causing the client device to use the modulation profile comprises one or more of sending an identifier of the modulation profile, sending a command to use the modulation profile for the communication channel, sending a command to the network device to use the modulation profile, or sending a command to the client device to use the modulation profile. ([0084] Figure 6, he UE (e.g., using the receiving processor 258, controller/processor 280, memory 282. and so on) can be received from the base station in the first time slot to a plurality of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in model or more time slot after the first time slot occurs after the one or more downlink communication of the SNR model the indication of the downlink communication, as described above. In some aspects, different SNR model a plurality of SNR model support different modulation and coding scheme, at least one of different rank or a combination thereof.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Gutman with the teaching of Zhou because Gutman teaches that signaling indicating SNR modes, can achieve these power savings without increasing transmission overhead and improve operational efficiency. (Gutman [0074]) Claim(s) 9, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou Gutman and Azenko As to claim 9. The combination of Zhou and Gutman does not teach wherein the network device comprises one or more of a termination system or a cable modem termination system. Azenko teaches wherein the network device comprises one or more of a termination system or a cable modem termination system. ([0114] FIG. 8 cable system with DOCSIS 1.x and/or 2.0 compatible cable modems 102 and 104 sending upstream data on multiple logical channels to a DOCSIS 1.x and/or DOCSIS 2.0 compatible Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) via Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks 108 and 110 and a combiner 112.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Azenko with the teaching of Gutman and Li because Azenko teaches that upstream noise measurement would allow to deciding whether to alter the upstream burst profile in each particular logical channel.(Azenko [0025]) As to claim 10. The combination of Zhou and Gutman specifically Zhou teaches detecting a request for the client device to access a network, or detecting network throughput falling below a threshold. ([0075] an AP is configured to notify a STA by broadcasting from the AP via beacon, probe, or association request/response, beacon, probe, or association request/response from STA, may include the STA’s maximum transmit power information; AP detects a response ) The combination of Zhou and Gutman does not teach wherein determining the condition comprises detecting an error rate rising above a threshold, Azenko teaches wherein determining the condition comprises detecting an error rate rising above a threshold, ([0077] the BER or byte error rate is above the threshold) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Azenko with the teaching of Gutman and Li because Azenko teaches that upstream noise measurement would allow to deciding whether to alter the upstream burst profile in each particular logical channel.(Azenko [0025]) Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou Gutman and Li As to claim 11 The combination of Zhou and Gutman does not teach wherein the noise model comprises one or more of noise amplitude distribution data, noise duration distribution data, or noise interval distribution data. Li teaches wherein the noise model comprises one or more of noise amplitude distribution data, noise duration distribution data, or noise interval distribution data. .([0053] subset of coding and modulation schemes is selected based on the distribution range of the channel signal-to-noise ratio and the signal-to-noise ratio threshold value of each coding and modulation scheme.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to combine teaching of Li with the teaching of Zhou and Gutman because Li teaches that signal-to-noise ratio prediction and coding-modulation scheme selection at the ground receiving terminal would reduce the burden on the gateway station. (Li [0043] Conclusion 4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Rupe; Jason W. et al. [US 11770321 B2] Systems and methods for testing wireless mobile network devices KUNDU; Lopamudra et al. [US 20220166586 A1] RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND USER MULTIPLEXING CAPACITY ENHANCEMENTS FOR INTERLACE BASED PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL FORMATS IN NEW RADIO (NR)-UNLICENSED Garcia; Maurice et al. [US 20170141887 A1] Determining One or More Data Modulation Profiles for One or More Devices Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ATIQUE AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-6244. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 7:30 PM M-F Eastern. 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, Un Cho can be reached at 5712727919. 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. /ATIQUE AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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Prosecution Timeline

Mar 17, 2023
Application Filed
Nov 24, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Feb 24, 2026
Response Filed
May 27, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+15.5%)
2y 9m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 464 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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