Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/318,395

UPLINK POWER CONTROL PARAMETER CONFIGURATION METHOD, TERMINAL AND NETWORK DEVICE

Final Rejection §103
Filed
May 16, 2023
Examiner
MADANI, FARIDEH
Art Unit
2643
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd.
OA Round
4 (Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
5-6
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allow Rate
297 granted / 384 resolved
+15.3% vs TC avg
Strong +20% interview lift
Without
With
+20.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
411
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.3%
-36.7% vs TC avg
§103
59.2%
+19.2% vs TC avg
§102
14.9%
-25.1% vs TC avg
§112
10.7%
-29.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 384 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1. 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 2. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot, please refer to rejection below for details. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 3. 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. A) Claims 1, 7, 9, 13, and, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG (US 2019/0191382 A1) in view of Chandrasekhar (US 2019/0069285 A1). As per claim 1, ZHANG teaches a computer readable storage medium, wherein a computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and a processor executes the computer program to perform (¶0329, computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and a processor executes the computer program to perform): receiving more than one power control parameter sets sent by a network device, wherein the power control parameter set comprises a parameter set of at least one parameter configuration index or parameter value (¶0059-61, obtaining or receiving power control parameter sent by base station (i.e. network device) comprising parameter value for the SRS); determining a target parameter configuration index or a target parameter value according to Downlink Control Information (DCI) for an uplink channel (¶0059-61, determining target power parameter value according to DCI for uplink control channel); transmitting the uplink channel according to the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value, wherein the uplink channel comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (¶0061 and ¶0091, transmitting the uplink control channel according to the target power parameter value and uplink control channel comprises PUSCH). However, ZHANG does not explicitly teach when a target indication field is detected in the DCI, then determining the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to the target indication field, from the power control parameter set; when the target indication field is not detected in the DCI, then determining the default parameter configuration index or the default parameter value of a first power control parameter set as the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value. In the same field of endeavor, Chandrasekhar teaches when a target indication field is detected in the DCI, then determining the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to the target indication field, from the power control parameter set (¶0087 and ¶0127-130, presence or detection of beam indication field related to DCI then apply a higher-layer configured set of QCL parameters (i.e. target parameter value) from the beam power parameters); when the target indication field is not detected in the DCI, then determining the default parameter configuration index or the default parameter value of a first power control parameter set as the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value (¶0127-130, absence or not detecting of beam indication field related to DCI then apply a pre-configured behavior such as default set of QCL parameters (i.e. default parameter value)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of Chandrasekhar in view ZHANG in order to provide transmission structures and format in advanced communication systems to support various applications. As per claim 7 as applied to claim 1 above, ZHANG further teaches wherein the parameter set comprises one of: a target received power, a pathloss compensation factor, a reference resource identification of a downlink channel or a reference signal for a pathloss calculation and a process identification of a closed-loop power control (¶0016, received target power value and path loss compensation factor). As per claim 9, ZHANG teaches a computer readable storage medium, wherein a computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and a processor executes the computer program to perform (¶0329, computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and a processor executes the computer program to perform): sending more than one power control parameter sets to a terminal, wherein the power control parameter set comprises a parameter set of at least one parameter configuration index or parameter value (¶0059-61, sending power control parameter to a UE/terminal of parameter value for the SRS); sending Downlink Control Information (DCI) carrying a target indication field to the terminal (¶0059-61, sending DCI carrying target power parameter value to the UE) and receiving an uplink channel sent by the terminal according to the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value, wherein the uplink channel comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (¶0061 and ¶0091, receiving the uplink control channel from the terminal according to the target power parameter value and uplink control channel comprises PUSCH). However, ZHANG does not explicitly teach when the target indication field is detected in the DCI, then determine the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to the target indication field, from the power control parameter set; when the target indication field is not detected in the DCI, then determine the default parameter configuration index of the default parameter value of a first power control parameter set as the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value. In the same field of endeavor, Chandrasekhar teaches when a target indication field is detected in the DCI, then determine the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to the target indication field, from the power control parameter set (¶0087 and ¶0127-130, presence or detection of beam indication field related to DCI then apply a higher-layer configured set of QCL parameters (i.e. target parameter value) from the beam power parameters); when the target indication field is not detected in the DCI, then determine the default parameter configuration index or the default parameter value of a first power control parameter set as the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value (¶0127-130, absence or not detecting of beam indication field related to DCI then apply a pre-configured behavior such as default set of QCL parameters (i.e. default parameter value)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of Chandrasekhar in view ZHANG in order to provide transmission structures and format in advanced communication systems to support various applications. As per claim 13 as applied to claim 9 above, ZHANG further teaches wherein the parameter set comprises one of: a target received power, a pathloss compensation factor, a reference resource identification of a downlink channel or a reference signal for a pathloss calculation and a process identification of a closed-loop power control (¶0016, received target power value and path loss compensation factor). As per claim 21, ZHANG teaches a computer readable storage medium, wherein a computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and a processor executes the computer program to perform (¶0329, computer program is stored in the computer readable storage medium, and a processor executes the computer program to perform): receiving more than one power control parameter sets sent by a network device, wherein the power control parameter set comprises a parameter set of at least one parameter configuration index or parameter value (¶0059-61, obtaining or receiving power control parameter sent by base station (i.e. network device) comprising parameter value for the SRS); determining a target parameter configuration index or a target parameter value according to Downlink Control Information (DCI) for an uplink channel (¶0059-61, determining target power parameter value according to DCI for uplink control channel); transmitting the uplink channel according to the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value, wherein the uplink channel comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (¶0061 and ¶0091, transmitting the uplink control channel according to the target power parameter value and uplink control channel comprises PUSCH). However, ZHANG does not explicitly teach when a target indication field is detected in the DCI, then determining the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to the target indication field, from the power control parameter set; when the target indication field is not detected in the DCI, then determining the target parameter configuration index or target parameter value based on a second power control parameter set. In the same field of endeavor, Chandrasekhar teaches when a target indication field is detected in the DCI, then determining the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to the target indication field, from the power control parameter set (¶0087 and ¶0127-130, presence or detection of beam indication field related to DCI then apply a higher-layer configured set of QCL parameters (i.e. target parameter value) from the beam power parameters); when the target indication field is not detected in the DCI, then determining the target parameter configuration index or target parameter value based on a second power control parameter set (¶0087 and ¶0127-130, absence or not detecting of beam indication field related to DCI then apply different/second higher-layer configured set (i.e. target parameter value) from the beam power parameters). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of Chandrasekhar in view ZHANG in order to provide transmission structures and format in advanced communication systems to support various applications. B) Claims 2, 4, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG (US 2019/0191382 A1) in view of Chandrasekhar (US 2019/0069285 A1) and further in view of Yerramalli (US 2017/0280476 A1). As per claim 2 as applied to claim 1 above, ZHANG in view of Chandrasekhar does not explicitly teach wherein the target indication field is configured to indicate the parameter configuration index or the parameter value of the power control parameter set. In the same field of endeavor, Yerramalli teaches wherein the target indication field is configured to indicate the parameter configuration index or the parameter value of the power control parameter set (Yerramalli, ¶0104, target transmission burst index field indicate reference signal of PUSCH). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of Yerramalli into invention of ZHANG and Chandrasekhar in order for transmitting an uplink transmission using dedicated radio frequency spectrum band to offload some data traffic and enhance data transmission capacity (Yerramalli, background). As per claim 4 as applied to claim 2 above, Yerramalli further teaches wherein the target indication field is coded independently, or the target indication field is jointly coded with other indication field (Yerramalli, ¶0075 and ¶0104, multiplexing or jointly indicator fields of coded data). As per claim 10 as applied to claim 9 above, ZHANG in view of Chandrasekhar does not explicitly teach wherein the target indication field is configured to indicate the parameter configuration index or the parameter value of the power control parameter set. In the same field of endeavor, Yerramalli teaches wherein the target indication field is configured to indicate the parameter configuration index or the parameter value of the power control parameter set (Yerramalli, ¶0104, target transmission burst index field indicate reference signal of PUSCH). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of Yerramalli into invention of ZHANG and Chandrasekhar in order for transmitting an uplink transmission using dedicated radio frequency spectrum band to offload some data traffic and enhance data transmission capacity (Yerramalli, background). C) Claims 3, 6 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG (US 2019/0191382 A1) in view of Chandrasekhar (US 2019/0069285 A1) and further in view of Yerramalli (US 2017/0280476 A1) and CATT: "Remaining Aspects of NR Power Control", 3GPP DRAFT RI-1720215, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), Reno, NV, U.S.A.; November 27-December 1, 2017 hereinafter CATT. As per claim 3 as applied to claim 2 above, ZHANG in view of Chandrasekhar and Yerramalli does not explicitly teach wherein subsequent to the determining the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to DCI for the uplink channel, the processor executes the computer program to perform: determining a target parameter configuration index or a target parameter value of other power control parameter item, based on the first power control parameter item, wherein the other power control parameter item is associated with the first power control parameter item. In the same field of endeavor, CATT teaches wherein subsequent to the determining the target parameter configuration index or the target parameter value according to DCI for the uplink channel, the processor executes the computer program to perform: determining a target parameter configuration index or a target parameter value of other power control parameter item, based on the first power control parameter item, wherein the other power control parameter item is associated with the first power control parameter item (CATT, page 3, section For SRS power control, gNB configures the same values for some parameters between PUSCH power control and SRS power control or the same association rule among P0_SRS,c, α_SRS,c, PL reference and closed-loop is applied for PUSCH and SRS power control In Alt.2, no RRC configuration is needed for signaling the direct linkage between PUSC and SRS power control FFS: details on the indication of the linkage via L1 signaling, e.g., using SRI in DCI, or an association rule among P0_SRS,c, α_SRS,c, PL reference and closed-loop applied for PUSCH and SRS power control). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of CATT into invention of ZHANG and Chandrasekhar and Yerramalli in order to process closed loop power control for NR PUSCH to achieve power control setting and service reliability. As per claim 6 as applied to claim 21 above, ZHANG in view of Chandrasekhar and Yerramalli does not explicitly teach acquiring an association relationship among a plurality of power control parameter items in the power control parameter set. In the same field of endeavor, CATT teaches acquiring an association relationship among a plurality of power control parameter items in the power control parameter set (CATT, page 11, section 2.3, FFS: details on the indication of the linkage via L1 signaling, e.g., using SRI in DCI, or an association rule among P0_SRS,c, α_SRS,c, PL reference and closed-loop applied for PUSCH and SRS power control). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of CATT into invention of ZHANG and Chandrasekhar and Yerramalli in order to process closed loop power control for NR PUSCH to achieve power control setting and service reliability. As per claim 12 as applied to claim 9 above, ZHANG in view of Chandrasekhar and Yerramalli does not explicitly teach sending, to the terminal, an association relationship among a plurality of power control parameter items in the power control parameter set. In the same field of endeavor, CATT teaches sending, to the terminal, an association relationship among a plurality of power control parameter items in the power control parameter set (CATT, page 11, section 2.3, FFS: details on the indication of the linkage via L1 signaling, e.g., using SRI in DCI, or an association rule among P0_SRS,c, α_SRS,c, PL reference and closed-loop applied for PUSCH and SRS power control). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of applicant’s claimed invention to have incorporated the teaching of CATT into invention of ZHANG and Chandrasekhar and Yerramalli in order to process closed loop power control for NR PUSCH to achieve power control setting and service reliability. Allowable Subject Matter 4. Claims 5, 11, and 22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion 5. 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 FARIDEH MADANI whose telephone number is (571)272-1249. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday; 9 AM to 5 PM 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, JINSONG HU can be reached at 5712723965. 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. /FARIDEH MADANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2643 /JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 16, 2023
Application Filed
Oct 18, 2024
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Jan 27, 2025
Response Filed
May 01, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Jul 11, 2025
Request for Continued Examination
Jul 14, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jul 25, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Oct 30, 2025
Response Filed
Feb 20, 2026
Final Rejection — §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

5-6
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+20.4%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 384 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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