Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/217,712

Slot Configuration in Control Channel Repetition

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jul 03, 2023
Examiner
NGUYEN, THUONG
Art Unit
2416
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Ofinno LLC
OA Round
2 (Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
4y 3m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allow Rate
446 granted / 654 resolved
+10.2% vs TC avg
Strong +32% interview lift
Without
With
+32.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 3m
Avg Prosecution
65 currently pending
Career history
719
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
16.3%
-23.7% vs TC avg
§103
49.5%
+9.5% vs TC avg
§102
15.2%
-24.8% vs TC avg
§112
14.6%
-25.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 654 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 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. This action is responsive to the Remark filed on 12/16/25. Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 6-9, 13-17, 19-20 was/were amended. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are presented for examination. Claim Objections Claim(s) 1, 8 & 15 is/are unclear to the examiner; what does it mean by stating “receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising one or more configuration parameters indicating: two search space sets linked for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) repetition; and an uplink transmission in a set of symbols”? The Examiner is not entirely sure what are the reason for the “two search space sets”? For whatever reason? What is the claimed invention? What is “canceling the uplink transmission” have anything to do with “two search space set”? Please clarify Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 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 of this title, 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) 1-3, 6, 8-10, 13, 15-16 & 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, U.S. Pub/Patent No. US 2022/0272557 A1 in view of Li, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2023/0421233 A1. As to claim 1, Liu teaches a wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to: receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising one or more configuration parameters indicating: an uplink transmission in a set of symbols; receive downlink control information (DCI)-via at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion of PDCCH monitoring occasions, wherein the DCI indicates reception of a downlink signal in a subset of symbols from the set of symbols configured for the uplink transmission (Liu, page 4, paragraph 50-51; page 9, paragraph 107 & 110; page 10, paragraph 131; i.e., [0107] Then, slot-based aggregation can be implemented in dynamic grant cases, or slot-based repetition can be implemented in configured grant cases. The second transmission mode is the transmission mode defined in Release 16, e.g., repetition transmission of dynamic grant PUSCH or configured grant PUSCH with granularity of mini-slot. [0050] Semistatic flexible resource can be further configured by the base station as uplink resource or downlink resource by dynamic slot format configuration. In other words, uplink transmission ( e.g., PUSCH) or downlink transmission ( e.g., PDSCH) can be scheduled on the semi-static flexible resource. The UE still needs to monitor the PDCCH in the corresponding PDCCH monitoring occasions scheduled or located at the semi-static flexible resource. [0131] While the present embodiments are described with reference to uplink PUSCH as an example, the repetition transmission information can also be carried in PDSCH, PDCCH); and cancel the uplink transmission in one or more symbols, of the set of symbols, that occur after a processing time from a last symbol of a PDCCH monitoring occasion that ends latest among the PDCCH monitoring occasions (Liu, page 2, paragraph 25; page 3, paragraph 28-29; page 5, paragraph 62; i.e., [0025] physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) uplink transmission resource is canceled; [0028] the base station 104 reschedules a new uplink transmission resource (e.g., PUSCH 136) for the UE 102 and then cancels the uplink transmission on the originally allocated uplink transmission resource (e.g., the PUSCH 134). In some examples, the entire originally allocated uplink transmission resource (e.g., the PUSCH 134) or a portion thereof can be rescheduled and released; [0062] the UE begins the monitoring in an UL CI monitoring occasion that is the latest UL CI monitoring occasion located in a downlink symbol (e.g., as indicated by the TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon and/or the TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) that ends (e.g., having an end position that is) no later than a predetermined number ( e.g., X) of symbols before a start position of the uplink transmission of the PUSCH 225. In the examples in which the TDD-ULD L-ConfigCommon and/ or the TDD-UL-D L-ConfigDedicated indicates that the UL CI monitoring occasions en and CI2 are located in downlink symbols, the UL CI monitoring occasion CI2 is the latest UL CI monitoring occasion in a downlink symbol. Accordingly, the UE determines that the UL CI monitoring occasion CI2 is the beginning UL CI monitoring occasion). But Liu failed to teach the claim limitation wherein two search space sets linked for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) repetition; and receive PDCCH monitoring occasions of the two search space sets. However, Li teaches the limitation wherein two search space sets linked for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) repetition; and receive PDCCH monitoring occasions of the two search space sets (Li, page 1, paragraph 19; page 5, paragraph 77; i.e., [0019] The multiple repetitions of PDCCH may be transmitted in different search space sets or different PDCCH candidates in one CORESET. When the multiple repetitions are transmitted by different TRPs, one CORESET is configured or activated with two TCI states; [0077] Multiple repetitions of PDCCH may be transmitted in different search space sets or different PDCCH candidates in one CORESET. The CORESET may be configured or activated with two TCI states when the PDCCH repetitions are transmitted by different TRPs). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Liu to substitute different transmission occasions toward different TRPs from Li for time interval from Liu to ensure the PUCCH repetition targeting towards different TRPs can avoid possible blockage between any TRP and the UE (Li, page 1, paragraph 5). As to claim 2, Liu-Li teaches the wireless device as recited in claim 1, wherein the processing time is determined based on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) processing time starting after the last symbol of the PDCCH monitoring occasion (Liu, page 5, paragraph 62; i.e., [0062] the UE begins the monitoring in an UL CI monitoring occasion that is the latest UL CI monitoring occasion located in a downlink symbol (e.g., as indicated by the TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon and/or the TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) that ends (e.g., having an end position that is) no later than a predetermined number ( e.g., X) of symbols before a start position of the uplink transmission of the PUSCH 225. In that regard, the UE can determine that the ending positions of all of the UL CI monitoring occasions cn-CI4 are no later than X symbols before the start of the UL transmission of the PUSCH 225). As to claim 3, Liu-Li teaches the wireless device as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more symbols occur after the end of the PUSCH processing time (Liu, page 7, paragraph 77-79; i.e., [0079] the UE begins the monitoring in an UL CI monitoring occasion (e.g., the UL CI monitoring occasion CI2 in FIG. 4) that is the latest UL CI monitoring occasion located in a downlink symbol (e.g., as indicated by the TDD-UL-DLConfigCommon) that ends ( e.g., having an end position that is) no later than a predetermined number ( e.g., X) of symbols before a start position of the uplink transmission of the PUSCH). As to claim 6, Liu-Li teaches the wireless device as recited in claim 1, wherein the downlink signal is at least one of: a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; or a channel-state-information reference signal (CSI-RS) (Liu, page 10, paragraph 131; i.e., [0131] reference to uplink PUSCH as an example, the repetition transmission information can also be carried in PDSCH, PDCCH); and the uplink transmission is at least one of: a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission; a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission; or a physical random-access channel (PRACH) transmission (Liu, page 4, paragraph 48; i.e., [0048] [0048] In some embodiments, the PUSCH (e.g., the PUSCH 134). Those uplink transmissions on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The other types of uplink transmissions can be uplink transmissions communicated on the PUCCH, SRS, PRACH, and so on). Claim(s) 8-10, 13 & 15-16, 19 is/are directed to a system and non-transitory computer readable medium claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 1-3, 6. Therefore, claim(s) 8-10, 13 & 15-16, 19 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 1-3, 6. Claim(s) 4-5, 7, 11-12, 14, 17-18 & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, U.S. Pub/Patent No. US 2022/0272557 A1 in view of Li, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2023/0421233 A1, and further in view of Chen, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 2022/0240181 A1. As to claim 4, Liu-Li teaches the wireless device as recited in claim 1. But Liu-Li failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to not cancel the uplink transmission in one or more remaining symbols, of the set of symbols, that occur before the processing time. However, Chen teaches the limitation wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to not cancel the uplink transmission in one or more remaining symbols, of the set of symbols, that occur before the processing time (Chen, page 2, paragraph 32; i.e., [0032] Further, in a case that the terminal does not detect the uplink cancellation signaling at the first moment, the terminal skips canceling the uplink transmission). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Liu-Li to substitute CSI from Chen for preemption status from Liu-Li to ensure the reliability of the URLLC transmission (Chen, page 1, paragraph 5). As to claim 5, Liu-Li-Chen teaches the wireless device as recited in claim 4, wherein the one or more remaining symbols are within a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) processing time starting after the last symbol of the PDCCH monitoring occasion (Liu, page 5, paragraph 62; i.e., [0062] the UE begins the monitoring in an UL CI monitoring occasion that is the latest UL CI monitoring occasion located in a downlink symbol (e.g., as indicated by the TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon and/or the TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) that ends (e.g., having an end position that is) no later than a predetermined number ( e.g., X) of symbols before a start position of the uplink transmission of the PUSCH 225. In that regard, the UE can determine that the ending positions of all of the UL CI monitoring occasions cn-CI4 are no later than X symbols before the start of the UL transmission of the PUSCH 225). As to claim 7, Liu-Li teaches the wireless device as recited in claim 1, wherein the subset of symbols comprises the one or more symbols (Liu, page 3, paragraph 36; i.e., [0036] NsI=rTcJGd bits of a field in UL CI (e.g., in DCI format 2_ 4) have one-to-one mapping with NsI groups of symbols, where each of the first Nsr T cr~l T cJNsIJ-NsI groups includes l T cJNsIJ symbols, and each of the remaining T crl T cJNsIJ-NsI groups includes rTcJNsil symbols.). But Liu-Li failed to teach the claim limitation wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to not cancel one or more second symbols of the set of symbols that occur after the subset of symbols based on the uplink transmission being a sounding reference signal (SRS). However, Chen teaches the limitation wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to not cancel one or more second symbols of the set of symbols that occur after the subset of symbols based on the uplink transmission being a sounding reference signal (SRS) (Chen, page 2, paragraph 32; i.e., [0032] Further, in a case that the terminal does not detect the uplink cancellation signaling at the first moment, the terminal skips canceling the uplink transmission). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to modify Liu-Li to substitute CSI from Chen for preemption status from Liu-Li to ensure the reliability of the URLLC transmission (Chen, page 1, paragraph 5). Claim(s) 11-12, 14 & 17-18, 20 is/are directed to a system and non-transitory computer readable medium claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim(s) 4-5, 20. Therefore, claim(s) 11-12, 14 & 17-18, 20 is/are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim(s) 4-5, 20. Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection. 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action. Listing of Relevant Arts Liu, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20230299893 A1 discloses different search space sets, repeated PDCCH. Chen, U.S. Patent/Pub. No. US 20230269753 A1 discloses two search space sets and PDCCH and PDSCH repetition. Contact Information The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions. THUONG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3864. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /THUONG NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 03, 2023
Application Filed
Sep 26, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Dec 15, 2025
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Dec 15, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Dec 16, 2025
Response Filed
Mar 09, 2026
Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+32.1%)
4y 3m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 654 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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