Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/293,139

TERMINAL, RADIO COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND BASE STATION

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jan 29, 2024
Examiner
SCIACCA, SCOTT M
Art Unit
2478
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
NTT Docomo Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
78%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 5m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 78% — above average
78%
Career Allow Rate
497 granted / 640 resolved
+19.7% vs TC avg
Strong +24% interview lift
Without
With
+23.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 5m
Avg Prosecution
49 currently pending
Career history
689
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.8%
-35.2% vs TC avg
§103
52.5%
+12.5% vs TC avg
§102
18.5%
-21.5% vs TC avg
§112
13.4%
-26.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 640 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
DETAILED ACTION This office action is responsive to communications filed on November 26, 2024. Claims 10-15 are pending in the application. 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 . Information Disclosure Statement The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 1/29/2024 has been considered. 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. Claims 10, 11, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cheng et al. (US 2022/0239417). Regarding Claim 10, Cheng teaches a terminal (“The node 700 may be a UE or a BS that performs various functions disclosed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 6” – See [0386]) comprising: a transmitter that transmits capability information indicating a maximum number of prediction times (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has a transmitter 722 (e.g., transmitting/transmission circuitry)” – See [0387]; “a UE may perform a capability report to indicate the duration or the length of the measurement window and the prediction window. The capability report may include UE radio access capability parameters, which may include a new parameter measurement-length and/or a new parameter prediction-length, indicating the maximum number of supporting duration or length” – See [0209]; The UE (terminal) transmits capability information indicating a maximum number of prediction duration/times); a receiver that receives a first higher layer signaling indicating a number of the prediction times (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has … a receiver 724 (e.g., receiving/reception circuitry)” – See [0387]; “a UE is configured with higher layer parameter timeRestrictionForChannelMeasurements with a new higher layer parameter Prediction-Window … The new higher layer parameter Prediction-Window may be set to ‘sl1’, ‘sl2’, ‘sl4’, where all values are in a number of slots, or set to ‘ms10’, ‘ms20’, ‘ms40’, where all values are in a number of milliseconds” – See [0197]-[0200]; The UE receives higher layer signaling indicating a configured number of prediction duration/times); and a processor that determines, based on the first higher layer signaling, one or more prediction times corresponding to a predicted channel state information (CSI) report (“the node 700 may include a … a processor 728” – See [0385]; “UE is Provided with a Prediction Window in Time. CSI Report May be Calculated Specifically for the Indicated Prediction Window” – See [0185]; The UE determines the CSI predictions for a corresponding CSI report based on the configured window). Regarding Claim 11, Cheng teaches the terminal of Claim 10. Cheng further teaches that the predicted CSI report includes a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) in the one or more prediction times (“If the UE is configured with a CSI-ReportConfig with the higher layer parameter reportQuantity set to a new value ‘cri-RI-PMI-CQI-PCQI’, the UE may report a predicted CQI (PCQI) index for the entire reporting band, or per sub-band, depending on CQI configuration” – See [0211]; The CSI report includes a PMI associated with the prediction window). Claim 13 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 10. Regarding Claim 14, Cheng teaches a base station (“The node 700 may be a UE or a BS that performs various functions disclosed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 6” – See [0386]) comprising: a receiver that receives, from a terminal, capability information indicating a maximum number of prediction times (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has … a receiver 724 (e.g., receiving/reception circuitry)” – See [0387]; “a UE may perform a capability report to indicate the duration or the length of the measurement window and the prediction window. The capability report may include UE radio access capability parameters, which may include a new parameter measurement-length and/or a new parameter prediction-length, indicating the maximum number of supporting duration or length” – See [0209]; The BS (base station) receives, from the UE (terminal), capability information indicating a maximum number of prediction duration/times); a transmitter that transmits, to the terminal, a first higher layer signaling indicating a number of the prediction times (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has a transmitter 722 (e.g., transmitting/transmission circuitry)” – See [0387]; “a UE is configured with higher layer parameter timeRestrictionForChannelMeasurements with a new higher layer parameter Prediction-Window … The new higher layer parameter Prediction-Window may be set to ‘sl1’, ‘sl2’, ‘sl4’, where all values are in a number of slots, or set to ‘ms10’, ‘ms20’, ‘ms40’, where all values are in a number of milliseconds” – See [0197]-[0200]; The BS transmits, to the UE, higher layer signaling indicating a configured number of prediction duration/times); and a processor that controls to receive, from the terminal, a predicted channel state information (CSI) report corresponding to one or more prediction times that are determined by the terminal based on the first higher layer signaling (“the node 700 may include a … a processor 728” – See [0385]; “UE is Provided with a Prediction Window in Time. CSI Report May be Calculated Specifically for the Indicated Prediction Window” – See [0185]; The BS receives, from the UE, a CSI report corresponding to the CSI predictions based on the configured window). Regarding Claim 15, Cheng teaches a system comprising a terminal and a base station (“The node 700 may be a UE or a BS that performs various functions disclosed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 6” – See [0386]), wherein the terminal comprises: a transmitter that transmits capability information indicating a maximum number of prediction times (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has a transmitter 722 (e.g., transmitting/transmission circuitry)” – See [0387]; “a UE may perform a capability report to indicate the duration or the length of the measurement window and the prediction window. The capability report may include UE radio access capability parameters, which may include a new parameter measurement-length and/or a new parameter prediction-length, indicating the maximum number of supporting duration or length” – See [0209]; The UE (terminal) transmits capability information indicating a maximum number of prediction duration/times); a receiver that receives a first higher layer signaling indicating a number of the prediction times (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has … a receiver 724 (e.g., receiving/reception circuitry)” – See [0387]; “a UE is configured with higher layer parameter timeRestrictionForChannelMeasurements with a new higher layer parameter Prediction-Window … The new higher layer parameter Prediction-Window may be set to ‘sl1’, ‘sl2’, ‘sl4’, where all values are in a number of slots, or set to ‘ms10’, ‘ms20’, ‘ms40’, where all values are in a number of milliseconds” – See [0197]-[0200]; The UE receives higher layer signaling indicating a configured number of prediction duration/times); and a processor that determines, based on the first higher layer signaling, one or more prediction times corresponding to a predicted channel state information (CSI) report (“the node 700 may include a … a processor 728” – See [0385]; “UE is Provided with a Prediction Window in Time. CSI Report May be Calculated Specifically for the Indicated Prediction Window” – See [0185]; The UE determines the CSI predictions for a corresponding CSI report based on the configured window), and the base station comprises: a receiver that receives the capability information (“the node 700 may include a transceiver 720” – See [0385]; “The transceiver 720 has … a receiver 724 (e.g., receiving/reception circuitry)” – See [0387]; “the UE may transmit a UE capability message to the BS” – See [0145]; The base station receives the capability report from the UE). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng et al. (US 2022/0239417) in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2022/0417776). Regarding Claim 12, Cheng teaches the terminal of Claim 10. Cheng does not explicitly teach that the receiver receives a second higher layer signaling indicating a time offset between the predicted CSI report and the one or more prediction times. However, Manolakos teaches that the receiver receives a second higher layer signaling indicating a time offset between the predicted CSI report and the one or more prediction times (“CSI reporting configuration message 361 may be a RRC message” – See [0079]; “In an aspect, the first time offset may be calculated from the end of CSI reference resource 403 to radio resource unit of the CSI report transmission 405 as shown with 406” – See [0094]; “In an aspect, the second time offset may be calculated from the end of CSI reference resource 403 to CSI target resource 404 as shown with 408” – See [0095]; See also Fig. 4A; The offset between report 405 and the one or more prediction times 404 depends on the offsets 406 and 408 that are configured by RRC (higher layer) signaling). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Cheng such that the receiver receives a second higher layer signaling indicating a time offset between the predicted CSI report and the one or more prediction times. Motivation for doing so would be to additionally ensure that the timing of the CSI reports is configured in accordance with the capabilities of the terminal (See Manolakos, [0073] and [0080]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott M Sciacca whose telephone number is (571)270-1919. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. 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, Joseph Avellino can be reached at (571) 272-3905. 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. /SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 29, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 29, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Nov 26, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 05, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (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
78%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+23.9%)
3y 5m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 640 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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