Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/359,164

BEAM CORRESPONDENCE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jul 26, 2023
Priority
Aug 19, 2022 — IN 202241047257
Examiner
KAUR, PAMIT
Art Unit
2416
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Nokia Technologies Oy
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
5m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
505 granted / 630 resolved
+22.2% vs TC avg
Strong +20% interview lift
Without
With
+20.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 4m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
652
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.0%
-39.0% vs TC avg
§103
87.2%
+47.2% vs TC avg
§102
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
§112
3.9%
-36.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 630 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claims 1-14 are subject under examination. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 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 § 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. 4. 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. 5. Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 9, 11, 12, 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal (US 20170367069 A1) and Song (US 20120157153 A1) in view of Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1). Regarding claim 1, Agiwal (US 20170367069 A1) teaches a User Equipment (UE) (See para 0061 “UE”) comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE at least to perform: controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based, at least in part on a range of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle (Seepara 0061 “In the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods to receive paging and other broadcast information”)[ waking up regularly at short periods is controlling length of cycles] and one or more power conditions of the UE, wherein the monitoring cycle is used to select a beam for transmission by the UE (See para 0111 “based on the configured DRX cycle, a UE determines the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst in which paging is transmitted for the UE. A UE wakes up “N” broadcast periods before the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst (610). ..“N” is the number of RX beams in a UE. During the “N” broadcast periods a UE tries to receive synchronization signals and broadcast channel transmitted using plurality of TX beams using plurality of RX beams. A UE determines the suitable or best TX/RX beam pair.”); and wherein, (i) the DRX cycle is used by the UE during RRC_INACTIVE state Seepara 0061 “In the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods to receive paging and other broadcast information”) and the range of the DRX cycle determines one or more beam correspondence conditions (See para 0202 “a UE in idle/inactive state transmits beam information (referred as beam indication signal or message) every paging DRX cycle (S2110). The beam information indicates the suitable or best DL TX beam(s) or SS block ID(s) of best/suitable SS blocks determined by the UE.”)[ beam being suitable/ best is interpreted as beam correspondence conditions for every DRX cycle] Agiwal teaches controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based, at least in part on a range of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle however it doesn’t teach controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE. Song (US 20120157153 A1) teaches controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE (See para 0102 “enable the DRX cycle..of the device to be adaptively controlled in response to a quality level of a communication environment”; see para 0070 “a DRX cycle which can be changed depending on the quality measurement results of a radio link “) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to reduce the required power of the device. (Song: see para 0102) Modified Agiwal doesn’t teach (ii) the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state. Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1) teaches (ii) the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state (see para 0019 “The beam measurement is typically based on a synchronization signal while in idle mode.”; see para 0028 “The IMU 114 can include one or more devices that report spatial and temporal measurements of the MT 100. For example, the IMU 114 can report values of force, angular rate, and/or orientation of the MT 100 as output by sensors including one or more accelerometers, gyroscopes”; see para 0015 “The spatial and temporal measurements include rotation and movement of the mobile terminal (MT) and/or geolocation of the MT and/or an associated base station (BS). The system includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU )”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state in the system of Modified Agiwal. The motivation is to improve performance (Wang : see para 0016) Regarding claim 9, Agiwal teaches a method comprising: controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of a UE based, at least in part on a range of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle (Seepara 0061 “In the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods to receive paging and other broadcast information”)[ waking up regularly at short periods is controlling length of cycles] and one or more power conditions of the UE, wherein the monitoring cycle is used to select a beam for transmission by the UE (See para 0111 “based on the configured DRX cycle, a UE determines the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst in which paging is transmitted for the UE. A UE wakes up “N” broadcast periods before the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst (610). ..“N” is the number of RX beams in a UE. During the “N” broadcast periods a UE tries to receive synchronization signals and broadcast channel transmitted using plurality of TX beams using plurality of RX beams. A UE determines the suitable or best TX/RX beam pair.”); and wherein, (i) the DRX cycle is used by the UE during RRC_INACTIVE state Seepara 0061 “In the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods to receive paging and other broadcast information”) and the range of the DRX cycle determines one or more beam correspondence conditions (See para 0202 “a UE in idle/inactive state transmits beam information (referred as beam indication signal or message) every paging DRX cycle (S2110). The beam information indicates the suitable or best DL TX beam(s) or SS block ID(s) of best/suitable SS blocks determined by the UE.”)[ beam being suitable/ best is interpreted as beam correspondence conditions for every DRX cycle] Agiwal teaches controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based, at least in part on a range of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle however it doesn’t teach controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE. Song (US 20120157153 A1) teaches controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE (See para 0102 “enable the DRX cycle..of the device to be adaptively controlled in response to a quality level of a communication environment”; see para 0070 “a DRX cycle which can be changed depending on the quality measurement results of a radio link “) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to reduce the required power of the device. (Song: see para 0102) Modified Agiwal doesn’t teach (ii) the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state. Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1) teaches (ii) the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state (see para 0019 “The beam measurement is typically based on a synchronization signal while in idle mode.”; see para 0028 “The IMU 114 can include one or more devices that report spatial and temporal measurements of the MT 100. For example, the IMU 114 can report values of force, angular rate, and/or orientation of the MT 100 as output by sensors including one or more accelerometers, gyroscopes”; see para 0015 “The spatial and temporal measurements include rotation and movement of the mobile terminal (MT) and/or geolocation of the MT and/or an associated base station (BS). The system includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU )”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state in the system of Modified Agiwal. The motivation is to improve performance (Wang : see para 0016) Regarding claim 12, Agiwal teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program comprising computer program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (see para 0049 “e flow charts may be performed by computer program instructions. Because these computer program instructions may be mounted in processors for a general computer, a special computer, or other programmable data processing apparatuses, these instructions executed by the processors for the computer”), cause: controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of a UE based, at least in part on a range of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle (Seepara 0061 “In the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods to receive paging and other broadcast information”)[ waking up regularly at short periods is controlling length of cycles] and one or more power conditions of the UE, wherein the monitoring cycle is used to select a beam for transmission by the UE (See para 0111 “based on the configured DRX cycle, a UE determines the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst in which paging is transmitted for the UE. A UE wakes up “N” broadcast periods before the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst (610). ..“N” is the number of RX beams in a UE. During the “N” broadcast periods a UE tries to receive synchronization signals and broadcast channel transmitted using plurality of TX beams using plurality of RX beams. A UE determines the suitable or best TX/RX beam pair.”); and wherein, the DRX cycle is used by the UE during RRC_INACTIVE state Seepara 0061 “In the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods to receive paging and other broadcast information”) and the range of the DRX cycle determines one or more beam correspondence conditions (See para 0202 “a UE in idle/inactive state transmits beam information (referred as beam indication signal or message) every paging DRX cycle (S2110). The beam information indicates the suitable or best DL TX beam(s) or SS block ID(s) of best/suitable SS blocks determined by the UE.”)[ beam being suitable/ best is interpreted as beam correspondence conditions for every DRX cycle] Agiwal teaches controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based, at least in part on a range of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle however it doesn’t teach controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE. Song (US 20120157153 A1) teaches controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE (See para 0102 “enable the DRX cycle..of the device to be adaptively controlled in response to a quality level of a communication environment”; see para 0070 “a DRX cycle which can be changed depending on the quality measurement results of a radio link “) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to reduce the required power of the device. (Song: see para 0102) Modified Agiwal doesn’t teach (ii) the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state. Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1) teaches (ii) the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state (see para 0019 “The beam measurement is typically based on a synchronization signal while in idle mode.”; see para 0028 “The IMU 114 can include one or more devices that report spatial and temporal measurements of the MT 100. For example, the IMU 114 can report values of force, angular rate, and/or orientation of the MT 100 as output by sensors including one or more accelerometers, gyroscopes”; see para 0015 “The spatial and temporal measurements include rotation and movement of the mobile terminal (MT) and/or geolocation of the MT and/or an associated base station (BS). The system includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU )”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the UE is able to meet the one or more beam correspondence conditions by using a gyroscope to estimate a rotation of the UE during the RRC_INACTIVE state in the system of Modified Agiwal. The motivation is to improve performance (Wang : see para 0016) Regarding claim 5, Agiwal teaches wherein the controlling of the lengths of the one or more monitoring cycles is configured to conserve power of the UE (See para 0111 “the method to minimize UE's power consumption is as follows: In this embodiment, based on the configured DRX cycle, a UE determines the start of paging frame or paging occasion or paging burst in which paging is transmitted for the UE.”) Regarding claim 6, Agiwal teaches wherein the range of the DRX cycle comprises at least one of: a short cycle, a long cycle (See para 0061 “in the idle or inactive mode UE wake ups at regular intervals (every paging DRX cycle) for short periods”) [ it implies DRX short cycle] Regarding claim 3,11,14, Agiwal doesn’t teach wherein the power conditions comprise one or more of: UE implementation factors, channel conditions, orientation of the UE. Song teaches the power conditions comprise one or more of: UE implementation factors, channel conditions, orientation of the UE. (See para 0102 “enable the DRX cycle..of the device to be adaptively controlled in response to a quality level of a communication environment”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to reduce the required power of the device. (Song: see para 0102) Regarding claim 4, Agiwal doesn’t teach wherein the UE implementation factors comprise at least one of: maximum power output, radio frequency architecture conditions, number of panels, size of the array. Song teaches wherein the UE implementation factors comprise at least one of: maximum power output, radio frequency architecture conditions, number of panels, size of the array (see para 0012 “control power of the terminal device by means of the power trigger unit when the quality of the radio link measured by the radio link measuring unit satisfies a predetermined condition.”; see para 0070 “a DRX cycle which can be changed depending on the quality measurement results of a radio link”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to reduce the required power of the device. (Song: see para 0102) Regarding claim 15, Modified Agiwal doesn’t teach estimate a correct panel for the UE to use when waking up from the RRC-INACTIVE state using the estimate rotation of the UE. Wang teaches estimate a correct panel for the UE to use when waking up from the RRC-INACTIVE state using the estimate rotation of the UE. (See para 0019 “The MT decides which beam is currently the optimal one to then switch to that beam. The beam measurement is typically based on a synchronization signal while in idle mode or based on reference signals while in connected mode. The optimal beam is searched periodically and identified based on measurement result.” See para 0034 “s the MT 304 rotates, the previously selected antenna beam 302-1 is no longer optimal for connecting to the wireless communication system 300. The MT 304 then performs updated measurements to select a new best beam, and switches to an antenna beam 302-2 oriented to a BS 306-2.”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine estimate a correct panel for the UE to use when waking up from the RRC-INACTIVE state using the estimate rotation of the UE in the system of Modified Agiwal. The motivation is to improve performance (Wang : see para 0016) 6. Claim(s) 2, 10 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal (US 20170367069 A1) and Song (US 20120157153 A1) in view of Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1) and further in view of Fraser (US 20030185162). Regarding claims 2, 13, 10, Agiwal doesn’t teach wherein the power conditions are indicates of the available power transmission power for the UE. Fraser (US 20030185162) teaches wherein the power conditions are indicates of the available power transmission power for the UE see para 0057 “alculate the DRx cycle duration value based on the transmit power level”) Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine controlling lengths of one or more monitoring cycles of the UE based…one or more power conditions of the UE in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to improve efficiency. (Fraser: see para 011) 7. Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal Agiwal (US 20170367069 A1) and Song (US 20120157153 A1) in view of Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1) and further in view of Islam (US 2018/0131434 A1). Regarding claim 7, Agiwal doesn’t teach wherein the beam correspondence conditions are determined such that shorter DRX cycles have a higher level of accuracy for the beam correspondence requirements compared to the longer DRX cycles. Islam (US 2018/0131434 A1) the beam correspondence conditions are determined such that shorter DRX cycles have a higher level of accuracy for the beam correspondence requirements compared to the longer DRX cycles.(see para 0112 “a range of beam sweep based on the level of beam correspondence or a state of UE 115-b, or a combination thereof. A state may include a DRX mode, for example, a short DRX cycle or a long DRX cycle. In some examples, UE 115-b may perform a full beam sweep or a partial beam sweep based on short DRX cycles. Alternatively, UE 115-b may perform no beam sweep based on a long DRX”)[ short DRX cycle determining/ performing a full beam sweep implies enhancing accuracy of the beam correspondence requirements] Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine he beam correspondence conditions are determined such that shorter DRX cycles have a higher level of accuracy for the beam correspondence requirements compared to the longer DRX cycles. The motivation is to improve communication (Islam: see para 0057) 8. Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal (US 20170367069 A1) and Song (US 20120157153 A1) in view of Wang (US 2023/0155665 A1) and further in view of Lee (US 20180338332A1). Regarding claim 8, AGiwal doesn’t teach wherein the beam correspondence conditions are determined such that shorter DRX cycle lengths have a higher level of UE transmit power compared to the longer DRX cycle lengths. Lee (US 20180338332A1) teaches the beam correspondence conditions are determined such that shorter DRX cycle lengths have a higher level of UE transmit power compared to the longer DRX cycle lengths (see para 0063 “The short DRX cycle may be used to improve performance (i.e., reduce delay) for delay sensitive traffic. However, a UE 120 may consume more power with short DRX cycles because the UE wakes up more frequently.”)[ UE wakes up more frequently implies UE need to transmit at higher power to send the data quickly] Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the beam correspondence conditions are determined such that shorter DRX cycle lengths have a higher level of UE transmit power compared to the longer DRX cycle lengths in the system of Agiwal. The motivation is to improve performance (Lee; para 00063) Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 PAMIT KAUR whose telephone number is (571)270-5665. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM. 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, NOEL BEHARRY can be reached at 5712705630. 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. /PAMIT KAUR/Examiner, Art Unit 2416
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 26, 2023
Application Filed
Aug 12, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Nov 10, 2025
Response Filed
Jan 13, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Apr 09, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

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Prosecution Projections

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+20.2%)
3y 4m (~5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
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