Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/258,538

INFORMATION SENDING METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND RELATIONSHIP DETERMINATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jun 20, 2023
Examiner
OBAYANJU, OMONIYI
Art Unit
2645
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
BEIJING XIAOMI MOBILE SOFTWARE CO., LTD.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
71%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 71% — above average
71%
Career Allow Rate
431 granted / 607 resolved
+9.0% vs TC avg
Strong +26% interview lift
Without
With
+25.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
635
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.2%
-34.8% vs TC avg
§103
54.0%
+14.0% vs TC avg
§102
26.4%
-13.6% vs TC avg
§112
9.2%
-30.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 607 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 § 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. Claim(s) 1-8, 10-12, 14-18, 22-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li (US Publication No. 20250016731). As to claims 1, 22, 23, 24, and 25, Li teaches an information sending method, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and a terminal, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions (fig. 5 and fig. 14), wherein the processor, when executing the instructions, is configured to execute the following method: sending a quality of service information for determining a relative spatial relationship to a second terminal (fig. 5, fig. 6, #601-#603, pp0103, the second terminal may broadcast the broadcast information through the sidelink interface, where the broadcast information includes the second positioning-related information of the second terminal, pp0106, second positioning-related information may include QoS indicator requirement of the positioning service, and pp0110, pp0114, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE, and fig. 7), wherein the quality of service information is configured to determine the relative spatial relationship to the second terminal (fig. 5, fig. 6, #601-#603, pp0103, the second terminal may broadcast the broadcast information through the sidelink interface, where the broadcast information includes the second positioning-related information of the second terminal, pp0106, second positioning-related information may include QoS indicator requirement of the positioning service, and pp0110, pp0114, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE, and fig. 7). As to claims 2 and 11, Li teaches wherein the relative spatial relationship comprises at least one of the following: a relative location, a relative distance or a relative angle (fig. 5, fig. 6, pp0110, pp0114, relative position). As to claim 3, Li teaches wherein the quality of service information comprises at least one of the following: precision information of the relative spatial relationship (fig. 5, fig. 6, pp0095, an indicator requirement of Quality of Service (QoS) of a positioning service, for example, the positioning accuracy, and pp0113, pp0014, positioning service may include at least one of the following: a service type 1 of the relative-position request service between the first terminal and the target terminal requests a service; that is, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE); first response time for sending a reference signal for determining the relative spatial relationship to the first terminal; second response time for sending a result information of the relative spatial relationship to the first terminal; or a distance upper limit for determining the relative spatial relationship. As to claim 4, Li teaches further comprising: determining a service applied for determining the relative spatial relationship with the second terminal; and determining the quality of service information according to the service (fig. 5, fig. 6, pp0095, an indicator requirement of Quality of Service (QoS) of a positioning service, for example, the positioning accuracy, and pp0113, pp0014, positioning service may include at least one of the following: a service type 1 of the relative-position request service between the first terminal and the target terminal requests a service; that is, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE). As to claims 5 and 16, Li teaches further comprising: sending configuration information to the second terminal, wherein the configuration information is configured to allow the second terminal to determine a configuration for sending a reference signal for determining the relative spatial relationship to the first terminal (fig. 5, fig. 7, #70-79, sending and/or receiving capability information between UE A and UE B and sending and/or receiving positioning negotiation according to the positioning capabilities, and calculating a relative position between UE A and UE B). As to claims 6 and 17, Li teaches wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of the following: bandwidth information (fig. 5, fig. 7, pp0181, the first terminal and the target terminal may negotiate to determine a corresponding positioning manner according to the positioning capabilities of both parties, for example, determine, according to parameters such as the bandwidth), period information, time-domain density information, or frequency-domain density information. As to claim 7, Li teaches further comprising: determining a service applied for determining the relative spatial relationship with the second terminal; and determining the configuration information according to the service (fig. 5, fig. 7, pp0181, the first terminal and the target terminal may negotiate to determine a corresponding positioning manner according to the positioning capabilities of both parties, for example, determine, according to parameters such as the bandwidth). As to claims 8 and 18, Li teaches wherein sending the quality of service information for determining the relative spatial relationship to the second terminal comprises at least one of the following: sending the quality of service information to the second terminal during establishing a sidelink with the second terminal; or sending the quality of service information to the second terminal through a sidelink after establishing the sidelink with the second terminal (fig. 5, fig. 6, #601-#603, pp0103, the second terminal may broadcast the broadcast information through the sidelink interface, where the broadcast information includes the second positioning-related information of the second terminal, pp0106, second positioning-related information may include QoS indicator requirement of the positioning service). As to claim 10, Li teaches a relationship determination method, performed by a second terminal (fig. 5 and fig. 14), and comprising: receiving quality of service information, sent by a first terminal, for determining a relative spatial relationship (fig. 5, fig. 6, #601-#603, pp0103, the second terminal may broadcast the broadcast information through the sidelink interface, where the broadcast information includes the second positioning-related information of the second terminal, pp0106, second positioning-related information may include QoS indicator requirement of the positioning service, and pp0110, pp0114, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE, and fig. 7); and determining the relative spatial relationship according to the quality of service information (fig. 5, fig. 6, #601-#603, pp0103, pp0106, second positioning-related information may include QoS indicator requirement of the positioning service, and pp0110, pp0114, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE, and fig. 7). As to claim 12, Li teaches wherein the quality of service information comprises at least one of the following: precision information of the relative spatial relationship (fig. 5, fig. 6, pp0095, an indicator requirement of Quality of Service (QoS) of a positioning service, for example, the positioning accuracy, and pp0113, pp0014, positioning service may include at least one of the following: a service type 1 of the relative-position request service between the first terminal and the target terminal requests a service; that is, the first terminal obtains a relative position between the first terminal and the peer UE); first response time for sending a reference signal for determining the relative spatial relationship to the first terminal; second response time for sending a result information of the relative spatial relationship to the first terminal; or a distance upper limit for determining the relative spatial relationship; the relationship determination method further comprising: determining, in response to the quality of service information comprising the first response time, a priority of sending the reference signal and other information to the first terminal according to the first response time (No patentable weight has been given to limitations directed to optional limitation which are not selected and/or rejected as highlighted above). As to claim 14, Li teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Claim 14 is further directed to optional limitations of independent claim 12, thus, no patentable weight has been given to limitations directed to optional limitation which are not selected and/or rejected i.e. further comprising: determining, in response to the quality of service information comprising the second response time, a priority of sending the result information and other information to the first terminal according to the second response time (No patentable weight has been given to limitations directed to optional limitation which are not selected and/or rejected as highlighted above). As to claim 15, Li teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Claim 15 is further directed to optional limitations of independent claim 12, thus, no patentable weight has been given to limitations directed to optional limitation which are not selected and/or rejected i.e. further comprising: determining, in response to the quality of service information comprising the distance upper limit, transmission power for sending the signal to the first terminal during determining the relative spatial relationship with the first terminal according to the distance upper limit; and sending at least one of the reference signal and the result information to the first terminal according to the transmission power (No patentable weight has been given to limitations directed to optional limitation which are not selected and/or rejected as highlighted above). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMONIYI OBAYANJU whose telephone number is (571)270-5885. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 10:30-7pm. 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, ANTHONY S ADDY can be reached at (571) 272-7795. 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. /OMONIYI OBAYANJU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 20, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
71%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+25.5%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 607 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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