Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/427,418

Supplementary Uplink for Random Access Procedures

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jan 30, 2024
Examiner
TRAN, PHUC H
Art Unit
2471
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Comcast Cable Communications LLC
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
92%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
93%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 92% — above average
92%
Career Allow Rate
942 granted / 1028 resolved
+33.6% vs TC avg
Minimal +2% lift
Without
With
+1.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
40 currently pending
Career history
1068
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
§103
37.8%
-2.2% vs TC avg
§102
24.7%
-15.3% vs TC avg
§112
18.7%
-21.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1028 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 . Response to Amendment 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. Claim(s) 1-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (Patent No. 11470498) in view of Jeong et al. (Pub. No. 20140148182) - With respect to claims 1, 5, 10, 14, 19 and 23, Lee teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, an indication of a channel occupancy level threshold associated with a cell, wherein the cell (e.g. step S1002 in Fig. 10 discloses “the UE may receive configuration on at least two ULs. The UE may be configured with at least two ULs for one DL of a cell. The configuration may be transmitted via a RRC message. In this embodiment, it may be assumed that two ULs, for example, first UL and second UL are configured for one DL. The second UL may be SUL carrier. The DL and one UL may be on the same frequency in Time Division Duplex while other UL is on a different frequency. Alternatively, DL and ULs may be on different frequencies in Frequency Division Duplex. One of the ULs may be a supplementary uplink in either unlicensed band or licensed band. The configuration may include thresholds indicated by the network (i.e. Cong_thres and DL_thres)”); and sending, based on a channel occupancy level of a first uplink carrier satisfying the channel occupancy level threshold, a message via the second uplink carrier (e.g. step S1008 in Fig. 10 discloses “ the UE may perform uplink transmission on the selected UL via random access procedure or via PUSCH. For example, the UE may perform uplink transmission for RRC Connection Establishment, RRC Connection Resume, Handover Complete, or RRC Connection Re-establishment. For example, the UE may perform uplink transmission via PUSCH for transmission of user data or MAC Control Element. According to embodiments of the present invention, the UE may avoid selecting UL with congestion, by measuring congestion information on candidate UL before selection. Thus, failure of RACH procedure on unlicensed band due to congestion may be prevented”). It is inherently to understand that the congestion of Lee’s invention consider as the occupancy level of the Application. Lee implicitly fails to teach based on a signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with a downlink carrier of the cell being greater than a signal strength threshold, but teaches the RSSI is above a threshold (see par. 96), which would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to understand that RSSI is consider as the signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with downlink carrier of the cell being greater than as signal threshold for UL transmission to gNB. Moreover, Jeong teaches a signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with a downlink carrier of the cell being greater than a signal strength threshold (see par. 9, 11 disclose a signal receives from BS that sent a downlink reference signal, wherein the DL signal received signal strength is equal to or higher than a threshold), therefore it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to implement the Jeong’s invention into Lee’s invention at the RSSI measure for select UL transmission. - With respect to claims 2, 11, 20, Lee teaches wherein the message comprises a random access preamble associated with a random access procedure (e.g. the step S1008 discloses the UL transmission via random access procedure). - With respect to claims 3, 12, 21, Lee teaches further comprising: determining a channel occupancy level of the second uplink carrier, wherein the sending the message via the second uplink carrier is further based on the channel occupancy level of the second uplink carrier (e.g. step s1004 in Fig. 10 discloses the measurement congestion on UL). - With respect to claims 4, 13, 22, Lee teaches wherein the sending the message is based on the channel occupancy level being greater than the channel occupancy level threshold (e.g. par. 105). - With respect to claims 6, 15, 24, Lee teaches the first uplink carrier is configured on a first frequency, and the second uplink carrier is configured on a second frequency that is a frequency lower than the first frequency (e.g. par. 94 discloses the different frequencies of ULs). - With respect to claims 7, 16, 25, Lee teaches the first uplink carrier is associated with a first coverage range, and the second uplink carrier is associated with a second coverage range that is greater than the first coverage range (e.g. the Fig. 7 shows the coverage of ULs). - With respect to claims 8, 17, 26, Lee teaches determining, by the wireless device and based on one or more measurements, the channel occupancy level of the first uplink carrier (e.g. step. S1004). - With respect to claims 9, 18, 27, Lee teaches the first uplink carrier comprises a normal uplink carrier, and the second uplink carrier comprises a supplementary uplink carrier (e.g. par. 77, 92-94 discloses normal UL and SUL). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892. . Examiner's Note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs or columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUC H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3172. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 Flex. 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, Sujoy K. Kundu can be reached at 571-272-8586. 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. /PHUC H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 30, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 23, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Nov 26, 2025
Response Filed
Feb 22, 2026
Non-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

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
92%
Grant Probability
93%
With Interview (+1.8%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1028 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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