Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/270,536

SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR EVALUATING NETWORK CONDITIONS

Final Rejection §103§112
Filed
Jun 30, 2023
Examiner
HUDA, MUHAMMAD AINUL
Art Unit
2467
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Rakuten Mobile Inc.
OA Round
2 (Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allow Rate
9 granted / 10 resolved
+32.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
37 currently pending
Career history
47
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
§103
62.6%
+22.6% vs TC avg
§102
26.4%
-13.6% vs TC avg
§112
6.4%
-33.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 10 resolved cases

Office Action

§103 §112
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 receipt of Applicant's amendment filed 12/15/2025. In the amendment, Applicant amended claims 1, 4-5, 9, 13, and 17. Claims 1-20 are currently pending. Response to Arguments Examiner has fully considered Applicant's arguments, filed on 12/15/2025. Applicant’s arguments (page 10-12) with respect to 35 USC 102 (a) (1) rejection of claim 1, 9, and 17 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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claims 1, 9, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. In particular, the specification’s “at least one time slot of a plurality of time slots”, doesn’t clearly disclose the claim’s “the at least one time slot comprising a first time slot and a second time slot, and the determined condition comprising a first determined condition for the first time slot and a second determined condition for the second time slot;" limitations. In other word, the specification does not disclose a time slot comprising a first time slot and second time slot". That is the specification is not clear about “time slot of plurality of time slots wherein a time slot comprising a first time slot and second time slot”. Claims 2-8, 10-16, and 18-20 depend from claims 1, 9, and 17 and thus includes the above limitations and also rejected under 35 U.S.C 112 (a) for reasons similar to those stated above. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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 1-3 and 7-11, 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elshafie et al. (US 20230045947 A1, hereinafter, Elshafie) in view of Sevindik et al. (US 20220140939 A1, hereinafter, Sevindik). Regarding Claim 1, Elshafie discloses, a system comprising: a memory storage storing computer-executable instructions ("The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data..."[¶0062]); and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory storage ("The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data..."[¶0066]), wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to: determine a condition of a communication channel during time slot of a plurality of time slots ("When a UE communicates with a base station over a wireless channel, the UE may measure channel quality and report channel quality measurement results to the base station. For example, the base station may transmit one or more CSI-RS to the UE, and the UE may measure a SNR or SINR of the channel based on RSRP or RSSI of the CSI-RS...The UE may then identify CSI based on the measured RSRP/RSSI/SINR and provide a CSI report to the base station including one or more reporting parameters indicating the channel quality measurement results. For example, the UE may report a CQI, a PMI, a RI, a LI, or other types of CSI (e.g. L1-RSRP, etc.) based on the CSI-RS, DMRS, or other PDSCH signals." [¶0069]); and adapt a transmission property of data during the at least one time slot based on the condition of the communication channel during a corresponding time slot ("...Accordingly, the UE may provide an acknowledgment to the base station in response to the transport block and report the buffered CSI for this transport block and previous transport blocks. In response to receiving the CSI report, the base station may correct its outer loop behavior, for example, by adapting its MCS to better correspond to the observed SINR and improve the BLER. For instance, the base station may select corrected MCS 618 for its subsequent transport blocks, which corresponds to the observed SINR and the target BLER as illustrated in the example of FIG. 6, thereby improving the BLER and providing higher transmission reliability." [¶0081]). Elshafie doesn’t explicitly disclose, the at least one time slot comprising a first time slot and a second time slot, and the determined condition comprising a first determined condition for the first time slot and a second determined condition for the second time slot; the transmission property being adapted on a slot-by-slot basis such that a first transmission property for the first time slot is adapted based on the first determined condition and the second transmission property for the second time slot is adapted based on the second determined condition. Sevindik in analogous art discloses, the at least one time slot comprising a first time slot and a second time slot, and the determined condition comprising a first determined condition for the first time slot and a second determined condition for the second time slot; ("Per step 1113, once the CBSDe receives the CQI data from the CPEe, it maps the CQI value to a configuration such as an MCS value through a lookup table stored in the CBSDe storage device (or location otherwise accessible to the CBSDe, such as cloud storage)..." [¶0189], see also, “…The CPEe may report the CQI values periodically at certain time (e.g., each time slot, frame), according to a schedule, in an event-driven manner…” [¶0188] the transmission property being adapted on a slot-by-slot basis such that a first transmission property for the first time slot is adapted based on the first determined condition and the second transmission property for the second time slot is adapted based on the second determined condition. ("Returning to FIG. 11, per step 1111, the CPEe transmits the determined CQI value(s) to the CBSDe via an UL channel. The CPEe may report the CQI values periodically at certain time (e.g., each time slot, frame), according to a schedule, in an event-driven manner, or otherwise. Moreover, as noted above, depending on mode, the CPEe may transmit multiple CQI values associated with different modes, whether simultaneously or at different times." [¶0188], see also, "Per step 1119, the CBSDe performs a CQI adaptation procedure, wherein it updates the CQI values in the CQI-to-MCS lookup according to MCS value that the DL channel can support (based in the feedback provided by the receiving CPEe 704), and store the new value in the local storage device or cloud storage. In this fashion, the CPEe and CBSDe at least periodically iterate in order to determine maximal or optimized DL configuration such as MCS settings." [¶0192], It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the idea of Elshafie with the teaching where a dynamic, slot-based adaptation of communication parameters, like channel condition is used, as disclosed by Sevindik. The rationale for using this dynamic slot-based adaptation is to allows systems to switch transmission modes/MCS to improve reliability, for example, when a particular slot has a high error rate. Regarding Claim 2, Combination of Elshafie and Sevindik disclose the system according to claim 1. Elshafie further discloses, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to determine the condition by determining an error rate of the at least one time slot ("...The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations." [¶0062], see also, "...Each of the CSI which the UE reports may include one or more of the following parameters: CQI, RI, instantaneous SINR or SPEF, energy metrics based on LLRs, bit error rate (BER), or BLER...the UE may apply IIR filtering to an average CQI computed over prior PDSCH transmissions and report the average CQI in addition to the instantaneous CQI for each prior PDSCH transmission in the CSI report..."[¶0098]). Here CQI gives the condition of the radio channel. Regarding Claim 3, Combination of Elshafie and Sevindik disclose the system according to claim 2. Elshafie further discloses, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to adapt the transmission property by: in response to determining that the error rate is greater than or equal to a first error threshold and to determining that the transmission property is greater than a first transmission threshold, decreasing the transmission property ("In another example, a weak acknowledgment may refer to an acknowledgment of a data transmission having an SNR associated with a BLER above a BLER threshold. For instance, if the base station schedules a transport block with a configured MCS, the configured MCS may be associated with a spectral efficiency (SPEF), which in turn may be associated with a nominal SNR for that transmission..."[¶0079], see also, "... For example, if the CSI report 402 includes CQI indicating that the UE determined the channel to have poor SINR, the base station may determine to decrease the MCS to improve the likelihood of successful reception of the downlink data 412." [¶0071]); Here the “transmission property of data” is the “MCS”. and in response to determining that the error rate is less than or equal to a second error threshold and to determining that the transmission property is less than a second transmission threshold, increasing the transmission property ("...In outer loop behavior, the base station may select a MCS for subsequent data transmissions based on an average performance of previous data transmissions to achieve the target BLER. For instance, the base station may update the MCS corresponding to the target BLER (originally selected during inner loop behavior) for subsequent data transmissions in response to an average CSI for multiple previous data transmissions, a number of non-acknowledgments or acknowledgments for the previous data transmissions, or other factors over time..." [¶0080], see also, "...The UE may also provide the HARQ-ACK feedback 508, 558 to the base station in response to the downlink data 506, 556 after a slot offset 514, 564 following receipt of the downlink data (e.g. K1). After receiving the CSI report, the base station may modify, MCS, rank, RB allocation, precoder, transmission power, or other parameters for subsequent downlink data transmissions accordingly." [¶0074], see also, "...the base station may provide DCI including a CSI trigger field, and the UE may measure CSI and transmit the aperiodic CSI report in response to the DCI. The UE may provide the aperiodic CSI feedback on PUCCH in response to the DCI, as well as HARQ-ACK feedback on PUCCH in response to downlink data scheduled by the DCI. In response to the CSI report, the base station may adjust MCS or other parameters to result in more reliable or faster, subsequent downlink transmissions. Thus, downlink grant-triggered, aperiodic CSI reporting may support reduced latency and increased reliability in communications." [¶0030]). Here HARK-ACK/ NACK will provide the bit error rate, and for a faster data transmission MCS has to be increased. Regarding Claim 7, Combination of Elshafie and Sevindik disclose the system according to claim 1. Elshafie also teaches, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to: transmit a reference signal to a user equipment ("...the base station may transmit one or more channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS) to the UE..."[¶0029]); estimate the transmission property based on a first feedback received from the user equipment ("... In response to the CSI report, the base station may adjust MCS or other parameters to result in more reliable or faster, subsequent downlink transmissions..." [¶0030]); Here first feedback is the csi report and transmission property is the MCS. at least one of transmit the data having the estimated transmission property to the user equipment during the at least one time slot, and transmit an instruction to the user equipment to transmit the data having the estimated transmission property during the at least one time slot ("...The base station may also determine various parameters for the downlink data transmission on PDSCH based on the aperiodic CSI report 402 (e.g. MCS, rank, resource block allocation, precoder, and transmission power), and the base station may transmit the downlink data accordingly to the UE. For example, if the CSI report 402 includes CQI indicating that the UE determined the channel to have poor SINR, the base station may determine to decrease the MCS to improve the likelihood of successful reception of the downlink data 412."[¶0071]); determine the condition of the communication channel during the at least one time slot based on a second feedback received from the user equipment ("...However, if an observed SNR of the transport block at the UE (e.g., measured based on RSRP) is less than the nominal SNR due to poor channel conditions, the observed SNR may correspond to a higher BLER than the target BLER (e.g., 20% BLER or some other number larger than 10%) ..."[¶0079]); and at least one of transmit the data having the adapted transmission property to the user equipment during the at least one time slot ("...After receiving the CSI report, the base station may modify, MCS, rank, RB allocation, precoder, transmission power, or other parameters for subsequent downlink data transmissions accordingly." [¶0074]), and transmit an instruction to the user equipment to transmit the data having the adapted transmission property during the at least one time slot ("...the UE may successfully decode data transmission 1326 but determine that the data transmission 1326 includes either a LLR quality 1328 below a quality threshold 1330 or a SINR 1332 associated with a BLER 1334 above a BLER threshold 1336, and thus the UE may observe that it is to feedback a “weak” ACK in response to data transmission 1326. The UE may determine which of the aforementioned CSI report trigger events to observe from the trigger event configuration 1309. Moreover, at 1338, the UE may optionally determine M′ CSIs of the M CSIs for a latest N obtained data transmissions to include in the CSI report." [¶0103]). Regarding Claim 8, Combination of Elshafie and Sevindik disclose the system according to claim 7. Elshafie in related art also relates, wherein: the reference signal comprises a Channel Status Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) ("...the base station may transmit one or more channel state information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS) to the UE..." [¶0029]); the first feedback comprises a Channel Status Information Report (CSI Report) ("...The UE may then identify CSI based on the measured RSRP/RSSI/SINR and provide a CSI report to the base station including one or more reporting parameters indicating the channel quality measurement results...." [¶0029]); the transmission property comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS); the condition comprises a Block Error Rate (BLER) ("In another example, a weak acknowledgment may refer to an acknowledgment of a data transmission having an SNR associated with a BLER above a BLER threshold. For instance, if the base station schedules a transport block with a configured MCS, the configured MCS may be associated with a spectral efficiency (SPEF), which in turn may be associated with a nominal SNR for that transmission..." [¶0079]; and the second feedback comprises at least one of a HARQ ACK signal and a HARQ NACK signal ("Additionally, after receiving the CSI stored in the UE's CSI buffer, the base station may compute statistics to improve the CSI-RS configurations as well as the PDSCH transmission parameters, thereby improving reliability of new transmissions (e.g., in response to HARQ-ACKs) as well as retransmissions (e.g., in response to HARQ-NACKs) ..." [¶0082]). Regarding Claim 17, Elshafie discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium (“The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium…” [¶0062]) having recorded thereon instructions executable by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising ("...memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor..."[¶0164]): determining a condition of a communication channel during at least one time slot of a plurality of time slots ("When a UE communicates with a base station over a wireless channel, the UE may measure channel quality and report channel quality measurement results to the base station. For example, the base station may transmit one or more CSI-RS to the UE, and the UE may measure a SNR or SINR of the channel based on RSRP or RSSI of the CSI-RS...The UE may then identify CSI based on the measured RSRP/RSSI/SINR and provide a CSI report to the base station including one or more reporting parameters indicating the channel quality measurement results. For example, the UE may report a CQI, a PMI, a RI, a LI, or other types of CSI (e.g. L1-RSRP, etc.) based on the CSI-RS, DMRS, or other PDSCH signals." [¶0069]); and adapting a transmission property of data during the at least one time slot based on the condition of the communication channel during a corresponding time slot ("...Accordingly, the UE may provide an acknowledgment to the base station in response to the transport block and report the buffered CSI for this transport block and previous transport blocks. In response to receiving the CSI report, the base station may correct its outer loop behavior, for example, by adapting its MCS to better correspond to the observed SINR and improve the BLER. For instance, the base station may select corrected MCS 618 for its subsequent transport blocks, which corresponds to the observed SINR and the target BLER as illustrated in the example of FIG. 6, thereby improving the BLER and providing higher transmission reliability." [¶0081]). Elshafie doesn’t explicitly disclose, the at least one time slot comprising a first time slot and a second time slot, and the determined condition comprising a first determined condition for the first time slot and a second determined condition for the second time slot; the transmission property being adapted on a slot-by-slot basis such that a first transmission property for the first time slot is adapted based on the first determined condition and the second transmission property for the second time slot is adapted based on the second determined condition. Sevindik in analogous art discloses, the at least one time slot comprising a first time slot and a second time slot, and the determined condition comprising a first determined condition for the first time slot and a second determined condition for the second time slot; ("Per step 1113, once the CBSDe receives the CQI data from the CPEe, it maps the CQI value to a configuration such as an MCS value through a lookup table stored in the CBSDe storage device (or location otherwise accessible to the CBSDe, such as cloud storage)..." [¶0189], see also, “…The CPEe may report the CQI values periodically at certain time (e.g., each time slot, frame), according to a schedule, in an event-driven manner…” [¶0188] the transmission property being adapted on a slot-by-slot basis such that a first transmission property for the first time slot is adapted based on the first determined condition and the second transmission property for the second time slot is adapted based on the second determined condition. ("Returning to FIG. 11, per step 1111, the CPEe transmits the determined CQI value(s) to the CBSDe via an UL channel. The CPEe may report the CQI values periodically at certain time (e.g., each time slot, frame), according to a schedule, in an event-driven manner, or otherwise. Moreover, as noted above, depending on mode, the CPEe may transmit multiple CQI values associated with different modes, whether simultaneously or at different times." [¶0188], see also, "Per step 1119, the CBSDe performs a CQI adaptation procedure, wherein it updates the CQI values in the CQI-to-MCS lookup according to MCS value that the DL channel can support (based in the feedback provided by the receiving CPEe 704), and store the new value in the local storage device or cloud storage. In this fashion, the CPEe and CBSDe at least periodically iterate in order to determine maximal or optimized DL configuration such as MCS settings." [¶0192], It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the idea of Elshafie with the teaching where a dynamic, slot-based adaptation of communication parameters, like channel condition is used, as disclosed by Sevindik. The rationale for using this dynamic slot-based adaptation is to allows systems to switch transmission modes/MCS to improve reliability, for example, when a particular slot has a high error rate. Regarding claims [9-11] and [17-19], “Method” and “CRM”, are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1-3] “System”, where Elshafie and Sevindik teach Method/CRM/System. Regarding claims [15-16] “Method” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1-3] and [7-8] “System”, where Elshafie and Sevindik teach Method/CRM/System. Claims 4, 12 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elshafie and Sevindik in view of Pfadler et al. (US 20230345265 A1), hereinafter, Pfadler. Regarding Claim 4, Combination of Elshafie and Sevindik disclose the system according to claim 3. Elshafie does not explicitly disclose, wherein: the transmission property comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS); the memory comprises a look up table specifying a correspondence between the MCS and a modulation and code rate for transmission of the data; the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to decrease the transmission property by decreasing the modulation and code rate for transmission of the data based on the look up table; and the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to increase the transmission property by increasing the modulation and code rate for transmission of the data based on the look up table. Pfadler in related art relates, wherein: the transmission property comprises a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS); the memory comprises a look up table specifying a correspondence between the MCS and a modulation and code rate for transmission of the data (45 P.sub.1 chosen from LUT [¶0113], see also "...In operation at 42 a timer t=1 is set and a legacy parameter set P0 is selected. In operation at 44 it is checked if P0 is still valid. If so, transmission is carried out in operation at 46. If not, another parameter set P1 is chosen from a look-up table (LUT) in operation at 45..."[¶0083]); the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to decrease the transmission property by decreasing the modulation and code rate for transmission of the data based on the look up table ("...If BER is above the threshold 37 (too many errors) the timer is increased t=t+1 and the next MCS1+t is set to MCSt−1 (more robust MCS) in operation at 36..."[¶0081], see also, "...In operation at 48 BER is evaluated against a threshold. If BER is above the threshold 48 (too many errors) the timer is increased t=t+1 and the next P1+t is set to P1−1 (more robust MCS) in operation at 47..."[¶0083]); Here the MCS is being decreased. and the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to increase the transmission property by increasing the modulation and code rate for transmission of the data based on the look up table ("...If BER is below the threshold 37 (more errors affordable) the timer is increased t=t+1 and the next MCS1+t is set to MCSt+1 (higher spectral efficiency) in operation at 38." [¶0081], see also, "...If BER is below the threshold 48 (more errors affordable) the timer is increased t=t+1 and the next P1+t is set to P1+1 (higher spectral efficiency) in operation at 49."[¶0083]). See also, (Fig. 3 (below), (36 MCS decrease 37 [¶0106] BER<threshold[¶0107] 38 MCS increase [¶0108])). PNG media_image1.png 490 636 media_image1.png Greyscale It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the idea of Elshafie and Sevindik with the teaching of using a look-up table to increase or decrease the MCS based on the channel condition as disclosed by Pfadler. The rationale for using the look-up table for MCS is to allows a transmitter to adjust its transmission properties in real-time, thereby, making the system more efficient. Regarding claims 12 and 20, “Method and CRM” are rejected under the same reasoning as claim 4 “System”, where Pfadler teaches Method/CRM/System. Claims 5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elshafie, Sevindik and Pfadler in view of Axmon et al. (US 20160127971 A1), hereinafter, Axmon. Regarding Claim 5, combination of Elshafie, Sevindik and Pfadler disclose the system according to claim 4. Combination of Elshafie, Sevindik and Pfadler don’t explicitly disclose, wherein the error rate specifies a number of erroneous transport blocks against a total number of transport blocks over time, and wherein the modulation specifies a number of bits that is carried by a single resource element; and wherein the code rate specifies a number of used bits against a total number of bits. Afterall, these are not any claim features but just definition of terms “error rate”, “modulation” and “code rate” which is well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. However, Axmon in related art relates, wherein the error rate specifies a number of erroneous transport blocks against a total number of transport blocks over time ("The UE monitors the block error rate for transport blocks received on PDSCH for the applicable C-RNTI, and estimates the BLER before and after an autonomous gap..."[¶0160]); and wherein the modulation specifies a number of bits that is carried by a single resource element ("...The total number of transmitted bits may be calculated by considering all resource elements over the allocated bandwidth not reserved for reference signals, synchronization signals, or the physical broadcast channel, and taking the modulation order into account (QPSK: 2 bits, 16QAM: 4 bits, and 64QAM: 6 bits per resource element). The modulation index, Q.sub.m, is given by the transmitted IMCS..." [¶0153]); and wherein the code rate specifies a number of used bits against a total number of bits ("...The code rate may be derived by the UE as the transport block size divided by the total number of transmitted bits. The actual allocation to the UE may be different in different sub frames. Hence, the code rate may fluctuate slightly over the received transport blocks. To suppress the fluctuations the code rate for the most recently received transport blocks may be subjected to filtering, e.g. a median filter over say a sliding window over 20 transport blocks." [¶0153]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the idea of Elshafie, Sevindik and Pfadler with idea of defining the terms as presented by Axmon. The rationale for doing so would have been to make the publication more understandable. Regarding claim 13 “Method” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims 5 “System”, where Axmon teaches Method/CRM/System. Claims 6 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elshafie, Sevindik in view of Meylan et al. (US 20220191730 A1), hereinafter, Meylan. Regarding Claim 6, Combination of Elshafie and Sevindik disclose the system according to claim 3. Elshafie doesn’t explicitly discloses, wherein the first error threshold, the second error threshold, the first transmission threshold, and the second transmission threshold are predetermined. Meylan in analogous art relates, wherein the first error threshold, the second error threshold, the first transmission threshold, and the second transmission threshold are predetermined ("In some aspects, the UE 120 may determine the amount of energy for the second communication based at least in part on a target MCS. The target MCS may represent a desired minimum MCS that the UE 120 intends to sustain in a time window. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may determine the amount of energy for the second communication based at least in part on a target BLER. The target BLER may represent a desired minimum BLER that the UE 120 intends to sustain in a time window. For example, the target MCS and/or the target BLER may be selected such that the second communication is expected to be successful with a threshold probability if the target MCS and/or the target BLER are satisfied." [¶0108]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the idea of Elshafie and Sevindik with the teaching of using four specific thresholds that are predetermined as disclosed by Meylan. The rationale for using specific thresholds that are "predetermined", meaning they are set in advance rather than being calculated or adapted during operation is to make the system more efficient. This is a common practice in communication protocols and signal processing to define rules for error handling and data transmission. Regarding claim 14 “Method” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims 6 “System”, where Meylan teaches Method/CRM/System. Conclusion References cited but not used: MANOLAKOS et al. (US 20190313430 A1 can be used for independent claims 1, 9, and 17 in addition to the one used. References cited but not used: Wang et al. (US 20240284453 A1) can be used for independent claims 1, 9, and 17 in addition to the one used. References cited but not used: Agami et al. (US 8121552 B2) can be used for independent claims 1, 9, and 17 in addition to the one used. 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 MUHAMMAD AINUL HUDA whose telephone number is (703)756-1594. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 - 6:30 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 PHILLIPS can be reached on (571)272-3940. 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. /MUHAMMAD AINUL HUDA/Examiner, Art Unit 4126 /HASSAN A PHILLIPS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 30, 2023
Application Filed
Aug 31, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103, §112
Dec 15, 2025
Response Filed
Mar 14, 2026
Final Rejection — §103, §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+14.3%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 10 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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