Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 30, 2026
Application No. 18/476,252

USER EQUIPMENT, BASE STATION, AND COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 27, 2023
Priority
Mar 30, 2021 — JP 2021-058630 +1 more
Examiner
AJAYI, JOEL
Art Unit
2646
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Toyota Motor Corporation
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
502 granted / 650 resolved
+15.2% vs TC avg
Strong +47% interview lift
Without
With
+46.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
42 currently pending
Career history
680
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.3%
-36.7% vs TC avg
§103
54.5%
+14.5% vs TC avg
§102
38.7%
-1.3% vs TC avg
§112
2.0%
-38.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 650 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 . This action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on March 29, 2026. Claims 1-4 are still pending in the present application. This action is made FINAL. Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed March 29, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The argument features Park fails to teach or suggest “receive, from the base station, configuration information configuring the communication equipment to provide assistance information assisting the base station to configure gaps for performing measurement in a second network included in the plurality of networks and monitoring of a paging in the second network”, and to “transmit, based on the configuration information, a UEAssistanceInformation message to the base station, the UEAssistanceInformation message including the assistance information assisting the base station to configure the gaps for performing the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network.” The examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s statement and asserts that the claims are broadly written. Using the broadest reasonable interpretation, Park discloses receive, from the base station, configuration information [“the second bases station (e.g. the second wireless network) may configure uplink/downlink resources for the wireless device…” (par. 226, lines 8-9)] configuring the communication equipment to provide assistance information [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)] assisting the base station to configure gaps for performing measurement in a second network included in the plurality of networks and monitoring of a paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)], and to transmit, based on the configuration information [“the second bases station (e.g. the second wireless network) may configure uplink/downlink resources for the wireless device…” (par. 226, lines 8-9)], a UEAssistanceInformation message to the base station [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)], the UEAssistanceInformation message including the assistance information assisting the base station to configure the gaps for performing the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]. The applicant will need to further amend the independent claims to clearly indicate the patentable subject matter. In view of the above, the rejection using Park is maintained as repeated below. 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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Park et al. (European Patent Application Number: 3 735 049). Consider claim 1; Park discloses a communication equipment configured to communicate with a plurality of networks using a plurality of subscriber identity modules, the communication equipment comprising: a communicator (par. 41, lines 15-17) configured to transmit capability information to support the plurality of subscriber identity modules to a base station of a first network included in the plurality of networks (par. 227, line 5; par. 229, lines 1-2), receive, from the base station, configuration information [“the second bases station (e.g. the second wireless network) may configure uplink/downlink resources for the wireless device…” (par. 226, lines 8-9)] configuring the communication equipment to provide assistance information [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)] assisting the base station to configure gaps for performing measurement in a second network included in the plurality of networks and monitoring of a paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]; transmit, based on the configuration information [“the second bases station (e.g. the second wireless network) may configure uplink/downlink resources for the wireless device…” (par. 226, lines 8-9)], a UEAssistanceInformation message to the base station [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)], the UEAssistanceInformation message including the assistance information assisting the base station to configure the gaps for performing the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]; and receive from the base station [“The second base station may send (e.g. transmit) to the wireless device, a second message indicating the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap). The second message may comprise the configuration parameters of the gap… The second message may comprise at least one of: downlink RRC message (e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message…” (par. 238, lines 1-5)], a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including the configuration of the gaps according to the information requesting the configuration of the gaps [“The second base station may send (e.g. transmit) to the wireless device, a second message indicating the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap). The second message may comprise the configuration parameters of the gap… The second message may comprise at least one of: downlink RRC message (e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message…” (par. 238, lines 1-5)]; and a controller configured to perform the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network in the gaps configured based on the configuration of the gaps (par. 241, lines 1-5). Consider claim 2; Park discloses the configuration of the gaps includes a gap length, a gap repetition period and a gap offset, for each of the gaps (par. 232, lines 1-5; par. 233, lines 1-2, 5-7). Consider claim 3; Park discloses a base station of a first network included in a plurality of networks in a mobile communication system having a communication equipment configured to communicate with the plurality of networks using a plurality of subscriber identity modules, the base station comprising: a communicator (par. 20, lines 7-8) configured to receive capability information to support the plurality of subscriber identity modules from the communication equipment (par. 227, line 5; par. 229, lines 1-2), transmit to the communication equipment, configuration information [“the second bases station (e.g. the second wireless network) may configure uplink/downlink resources for the wireless device…” (par. 226, lines 8-9)] configuring the communication equipment to provide assistance information [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)] assisting the base station to configure gaps for performing measurement in a second network included in the plurality of networks and monitoring of a paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]; receive UEAssistanceInformation message from the communication equipment [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)], the UEAssistanceInformation message including the assistance information assisting the base station to configure the gaps for performing the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]; transmit to the communication equipment [“The second base station may send (e.g. transmit) to the wireless device, a second message indicating the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap). The second message may comprise the configuration parameters of the gap… The second message may comprise at least one of: downlink RRC message (e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message…” (par. 238, lines 1-5)], a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including configuration of the gaps in accordance with the assistance information [“The second base station may send (e.g. transmit) to the wireless device, a second message indicating the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap). The second message may comprise the configuration parameters of the gap… The second message may comprise at least one of: downlink RRC message (e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message…” (par. 238, lines 1-5)]. Consider claim 4; Park discloses a communication method performed by a communication equipment configured to communicate with a plurality of networks using a plurality of subscriber identity modules, the communication method comprising: transmitting capability information to support the plurality of subscriber identity modules to a base station of a first network included in the plurality of networks (par. 227, line 5; par. 229, lines 1-2), receiving, from the base station, configuration information [“the second bases station (e.g. the second wireless network) may configure uplink/downlink resources for the wireless device…” (par. 226, lines 8-9)] configuring the communication equipment to provide assistance information [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)] assisting the base station to configure gaps for performing measurement in a second network included in the plurality of networks and monitoring of a paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]; transmitting UEAssistanceInformation message to the base station [“The assistance information may comprise indication of radio resources that are to be avoided, by the wireless base station, for communicating with the second wireless network…” (par. 227, lines 1-2)], the UEAssistanceInformation message including the assistance information assisting the base station to configure the gaps for performing the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network [“The second base station may determine, based on the assistance information, configuration parameters of the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap).” (par. 230, lines 1-2)]; and receiving from the base station [“The second base station may send (e.g. transmit) to the wireless device, a second message indicating the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap). The second message may comprise the configuration parameters of the gap… The second message may comprise at least one of: downlink RRC message (e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message…” (par. 238, lines 1-5)], a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including the configuration of the gaps in accordance with the assistance information requesting the configuration of the gaps [“The second base station may send (e.g. transmit) to the wireless device, a second message indicating the gap (e.g. a monitoring gap and/or a communication gap). The second message may comprise the configuration parameters of the gap… The second message may comprise at least one of: downlink RRC message (e.g. an RRC reconfiguration message…” (par. 238, lines 1-5)]; and performing the measurement and the monitoring of the paging in the second network in the gaps configured based on the configuration of the gaps (par. 241, lines 1-5). Takahashi is also a reference that discloses a base station transmitting a RRC reconfiguration message including a gap configuration. Conclusion 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Joel Ajayi whose telephone number is (571) 270-1091. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 7:30am to 5:00pm and Friday 7:30am to 4:00 pm. If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette Parker can be reached on (571) 270-3647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free) or 703-305-3028. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist/customer service whose telephone number is (571) 272-2600. /JOEL AJAYI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 27, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 29, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102
Mar 29, 2026
Response Filed
Apr 15, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §102
Aug 11, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Aug 13, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

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

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+46.6%)
2y 10m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 650 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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