Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/291,436

TERMINAL, RADIO COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND BASE STATION

Final Rejection §102
Filed
Jan 23, 2024
Priority
Jul 29, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTJP2021028134
Examiner
DUFFY, JAMES P
Art Unit
2461
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
OA Round
2 (Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
69%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
470 granted / 610 resolved
+19.0% vs TC avg
Minimal -8% lift
Without
With
+-8.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
645
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.2%
-38.8% vs TC avg
§103
86.8%
+46.8% vs TC avg
§102
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
§112
3.2%
-36.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 610 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 . Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 10 and 12-14 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 § 102 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 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. Claims 10 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Laddu et al. (US 2022/0322310, Laddu hereafter). RE claims 10 and 12, Laddu discloses a terminal and method for a terminal comprising: a receiver (Figure 6, transceivers. Paragraph 13: “FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a wireless station (e.g., AP, BS, gNB, TRP, network node, user device, UE, or other wireless node) according to an example embodiment.” )that receives reference signals associated with a second physical cell ID (PCI) that corresponds to a non-serving cell and is different from a first PCI corresponding to a serving cell (Paragraph 52 discloses a UE performs multi-TRP operation and beam failure detection and recovery with respect to each TRP “using respective sets of BFD-RS (q0-0 and q0-1) for serving-cell and non-serving cell determined based on the methods. As an example UE may determine to perform beam failure detection for first TRP that includes a serving cell, and a second TRP that includes at least one non-serving cell using the respective sets of BFD-RS (beam failure detection-reference signal) (e.g. q0-0 for first TRP and q0-1 for the second TRP).” Further, “As a further example when the UE has determined to perform (inter-cell) multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation as if CORESETPoolIndex values were configured (e.g., based on the groups of PCI or two or more distinct values of PCIs) as described herein, UE may determine the first BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 and the second BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=1”); and a processor (Figure 6, processor) that controls beam failure detection (BFD) using the reference signals (Per the citations above, the UE performs multi-TRP beam failure detection), wherein when two sets of reference signals are configured, the processor determines a TCI state of the reference signals associated with the second PCI only for a second set, and wherein reference signals in the second set are all associated with a same PCI (Paragraph 52, “As a further example when the UE has determined to perform (inter-cell) multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation as if CORESETPoolIndex values were configured (e.g., based on the groups of PCI or two or more distinct values of PCIs) as described herein, UE may determine the first BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 and the second BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=1”). RE claim 13, Laddu discloses a base station comprising: a transmitter (Figure 6 transceivers. Paragraph 13: “FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a wireless station (e.g., AP, BS, gNB, TRP, network node, user device, UE, or other wireless node) according to an example embodiment.”) that transmits reference signals associated with a second physical cell ID (PCI) that corresponds to a non-serving cell and is different from a first PCI corresponding to a serving cell (Paragraph 52 discloses a UE performs multi-TRP operation and beam failure detection and recovery with respect to each TRP “using respective sets of BFD-RS (q0-0 and q0-1) for serving-cell and non-serving cell determined based on the methods. As an example UE may determine to perform beam failure detection for first TRP that includes a serving cell, and a second TRP that includes at least one non-serving cell using the respective sets of BFD-RS (beam failure detection-reference signal) (e.g. q0-0 for first TRP and q0-1 for the second TRP).” Further, “As a further example when the UE has determined to perform (inter-cell) multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation as if CORESETPoolIndex values were configured (e.g., based on the groups of PCI or two or more distinct values of PCIs) as described herein, UE may determine the first BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 and the second BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=1”); and a processor (Figure 6, processor) that controls beam failure detection (BFD) using the reference signals (Per the citations above, the UE performs multi-TRP beam failure detection based on the reference signals allocated and transmitted by each TRP), wherein when two sets of reference signals are configured, a TCI state of the reference signals associated with the second PCI is determined only for a second set, and wherein reference signals in the second set are all associated with a same PCI (Paragraph 52, “As a further example when the UE has determined to perform (inter-cell) multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation as if CORESETPoolIndex values were configured (e.g., based on the groups of PCI or two or more distinct values of PCIs) as described herein, UE may determine the first BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 and the second BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=1”). RE claim 14, Laddu discloses a system comprising a terminal and a base station (Figures 1 and 6), wherein the base station comprises: a transmitter (Figure 6) that transmits reference signals associated with a second physical cell ID (PCI) that corresponds to a non-serving cell and is different from a first PCI corresponding to a serving cell (Paragraph 52 discloses a UE performs multi-TRP operation and beam failure detection and recovery with respect to each TRP “using respective sets of BFD-RS (q0-0 and q0-1) for serving-cell and non-serving cell determined based on the methods. As an example UE may determine to perform beam failure detection for first TRP that includes a serving cell, and a second TRP that includes at least one non-serving cell using the respective sets of BFD-RS (beam failure detection-reference signal) (e.g. q0-0 for first TRP and q0-1 for the second TRP).” Further, “As a further example when the UE has determined to perform (inter-cell) multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation as if CORESETPoolIndex values were configured (e.g., based on the groups of PCI or two or more distinct values of PCIs) as described herein, UE may determine the first BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 and the second BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=1”) and the terminal comprises: a receiver (Figure 6) that receives the reference signals; and a processor (Figure 6) that controls beam failure detection (BFD) using the reference signals (Per the citations above, the UE performs multi-TRP beam failure detection based on the reference signals allocated and transmitted by each TRP), wherein when two sets of reference signals are configured, the processor determines a TCI state of the reference signals associated with the second PCI only for a second set, and wherein reference signals in the second set are all associated with a same PCI (Paragraph 52, “As a further example when the UE has determined to perform (inter-cell) multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation as if CORESETPoolIndex values were configured (e.g., based on the groups of PCI or two or more distinct values of PCIs) as described herein, UE may determine the first BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 and the second BFD-RS to include the RS indicated by the active TCI States for the CORESETs determined to be associated with CORESETPoolIndex=1”). 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 James P Duffy whose telephone number is (571)270-7516. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday-Friday, 9am-6pm EST. 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, Huy D Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. 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. /James P Duffy/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 23, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 26, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 14, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102
Apr 14, 2026
Response Filed
Jun 30, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §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

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
69%
With Interview (-8.0%)
2y 10m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 610 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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