Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 26, 2026
Application No. 18/468,124

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR REPEATEDLY TRANSMITTING DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION WHEN PERFORMING NETWORK COOPERATIVE COMMUNICATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 15, 2023
Priority
Apr 20, 2021 — RE 10-2021-0051368 +1 more
Examiner
BLANTON, JOHN D
Art Unit
2466
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
78%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
86%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 78% — above average
78%
Career Allowance Rate
806 granted / 1038 resolved
+19.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
1082
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.6%
-37.4% vs TC avg
§103
57.2%
+17.2% vs TC avg
§102
17.8%
-22.2% vs TC avg
§112
12.1%
-27.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1038 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4, 8, 12, and 15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 14 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. 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. Claim(s) 1, 5, 9, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura et al. (US 2024/0129933) (“Matsumura”) in view of Rastegardoost et al. (US 2022/0007399) (“Rastegardoost”). For claims 1, 5, 9, and 13; Matsumura discloses: receiving, from a base station, a control channel configuration (paragraph 53: For the PDCCH repetition, an association (or a linkage) between a plurality of (for example, two) search space sets may be configured by higher layer signaling/MAC CE); monitoring two physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates with different control resource set (CORESET) pool indices for detecting downlink control information (DCI) with same information based on the control channel configuration (paragraph 48-53: scheduling of one PDSCH (for example, the same PDSCH) is performed with repetition transmissions of the PDCCHs. A case in which PDCCH #1 is used for transmission of DCI #1 and corresponds to a first CORESET pool ID (here, #0) is shown. A case in which PDCCH #2 is used for transmission of DCI #2 and corresponds to a second CORESET pool ID (here, #1)). Matsumura does not expressly disclose, but Rastegardoost from similar fields of endeavor teaches: receiving, from a base station, semi persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration (paragraph 434: a UE may receive one or more RRC messages comprising parameters of one or more semi-persistent scheduling (e.g. SPS PDSCH) configurations) and; identifying whether an activated SPS physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is deactivated based on a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, a redundancy version, a modulation and coding scheme, and a frequency domain resource assignment field included in the detected DCI (paragraph 267: The wireless device may determine a DL SPS release, e.g. if a received DCI format comprises of the first and the second and the third and the fourth fields, all set to the pre-defined values), wherein, based on a identifying that the activated SPS PDSCH is deactivated, decoding of data is not attempted in the deactivated SPS PDSCH (paragraph 411: The UE may receive a second DCI in slot p, indicating a deactivation/release of the SPS PDSCH configuration. The UE may stop receiving DL data via PDSCH based on the SPS PDSCH configuration).. Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Rastegardoost in the redundant PDDCH as described by Matsumura. The motivation is to improve resource configuration. Claim(s) 2, 6, 10, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura in view of Rastegardoost as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2023/0087280) (“Zhang”). For claims 2, 6, 10, and 14; Matsumura discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action. Matsumura does not expressly disclose, but Zhang from similar fields of endeavor teaches: in case that the DCI is associated with a configured scheduling-radio network temporary identifier (CS-RNTI) (paragraph 289: A UE may validate, for scheduling activation or scheduling release, a DL SPS assignment PDCCH or configured UL grant Type 2 PDCCH if the CRC of a corresponding DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1 and/or DCI format 0_2) is scrambled with a CS-RNTI), and that the HARQ process number, redundancy version, modulation and coding scheme, and frequency domain resource assignment fields included in the DCI are configured to preconfigured values, the activated SPS PDSCH is deactivated, in case that the DCI is associated with the CS-RNTI and that a HARQ process ID (identity) included in the SPS configuration is identical to a HARQ process number included in the DCI, the SPS PDSCH is deactivated, or in case that HARQ process numbers included in the DCI are consecutive, the activated SPS PDSCH is deactivated (paragraph 62: These field/values may be HARQ process number set equal to zero; redundancy version (RV) field set equal to zero; modulation and coding scheme (MCS) set equal to one; a frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) field set to all zeros for a type-0 resource allocation or a dynamic-switch resource allocation; or to all ones for a type-1 resource allocation. These field/values may correspond to restrictions for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) release; however, the SPS release is carried by DCI associated with a configured scheduled—RNTI (CS-RNTI), rather than C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Zhang in the redundant PDDCH as described by Matsumura. The motivation is to improve resource configuration. Claim(s) 3, 7, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumura in view of Rastegardoost as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Gao et al. (US 2023/0155737) (“Gao”). For claims 3, 7, and 11; Matsumura discloses the subject matter in claim 1 as described above in the office action. Matsumura discloses: CORESET pool indices are consecutive (paragraph 48-53: scheduling of one PDSCH (for example, the same PDSCH) is performed with repetition transmissions of the PDCCHs. A case in which PDCCH #1 is used for transmission of DCI #1 and corresponds to a first CORESET pool ID (here, #0) is shown. A case in which PDCCH #2 is used for transmission of DCI #2 and corresponds to a second CORESET pool ID (here, #1)). Matsumura does not expressly disclose, but Gao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: decoding, in case that activated SPS PDSCHs scheduled by the detected DCI overlap in a slot, data received in the activated SPS PDSCHs (paragraph 9, fig. 1: when a PDCCH indicating SPS resource release is received in a slot in which SPS PDSCHs need to be received, it is determined to feed back the hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement information to the PDCCH and not to feed back the hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement information to a predetermined SPS PDSCH among the SPS PDSCHs; implicitly all PDSCHs are received in the slot but not acknowledged). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Gao in the redundant PDDCH as described by Matsumura. The motivation is to improve resource configuration. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kim et al. (US 2023/0073095); Kim discloses when the same DCI/PDCCH is repetitively transmitted, a terminal may increase a DCI/PDCCH reception/decoding success rate through two methods (e.g., a soft combining method, and a multi-change method). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu. 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, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. 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. /JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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Prosecution Timeline

Show 2 earlier events
Oct 20, 2025
Interview Requested
Oct 29, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Oct 29, 2025
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Dec 02, 2025
Response Filed
Feb 23, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103
May 22, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Jun 03, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Sep 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §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

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
78%
Grant Probability
86%
With Interview (+8.4%)
2y 11m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 1038 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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