Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/440,454

FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLEXING FOR NARROWBAND CHANNEL BANDWIDTH

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Feb 13, 2024
Examiner
BEAMER, TEMICA M
Art Unit
2646
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 5m
To Grant
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
884 granted / 1003 resolved
+26.1% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+4.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
1026
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.4%
-34.6% vs TC avg
§103
28.1%
-11.9% vs TC avg
§102
39.4%
-0.6% vs TC avg
§112
5.4%
-34.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1003 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 . 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Babaei, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2021/0307108. Regarding claims 1, 11 and 17, discloses a user equipment (UE), (network node/base station and method) for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory, (The wireless device 1502 and the base station 1542 may have one or more of a plurality…Data Processing System (e.g., Data Processing System 1524 at the wireless device 1502 and Data Processing System 1564 at the base station 1542), Memory (e.g., Memory 1512 at the wireless device 1502 and Memory 1542 at the base station 1542).) 0171 configured to: receive configuration information indicating a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) parameter associated with a random access procedure; and transmit a Message 1 (Msg1) or a Message A (MsgA) on one or more resources in accordance with the configuration information and based at least in part on the one or more resources having a valid status (In an example, as long as at least one SR is pending, for each pending SR, if the MAC entity has valid PUCCH resource configured for the pending SR, for the SR configuration corresponding to the pending SR:) (0261), wherein at least one of the FDM parameter or the valid status is based at least in part on the random access procedure utilizing a narrowband transmission bandwidth of a channel bandwidth (The base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of the random access parameters. The random access parameters may indicate radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) for transmission of the random access preamble (e.g., Msg1), configuration index, one or more parameters for determining the power of the random access preamble (e.g., a power ramping parameter, a preamble received target power, etc.), a parameter indicating maximum number of preamble transmission, RAR window for monitoring RAR, cell-specific random access parameters and UE specific random access parameters. The UE-specific random access parameters may indicate one or more PRACH occasions for random access preamble (e.g., Msg1) transmissions.) (0141). The dependent claims are not novel and are covered under Babaei. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jeon et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2022/0110184 discloses DRX for a two-step random access procedure. Jeon et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2022/0078856 discloses reception of random access response. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEMICA M. BEAMER whose telephone number is (571)272-7797. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. 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, Matthew D. Anderson can be reached at 571-272-4177. 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. /TEMICA M BEAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 13, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102
Apr 14, 2026
Interview Requested

Precedent Cases

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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
88%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+4.1%)
2y 5m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1003 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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