Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 15, 2026
Application No. 18/534,242

METHODS, DEVICES, AND SYSTEMS FOR CONFIGURING AND TRANSMITTING SCHEDULING REQUEST

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 08, 2023
Priority
Apr 20, 2022 — continuation of PCTCN2022087987
Examiner
BUKHARI, SIBTE H
Art Unit
2449
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
ZTE Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allowance Rate
342 granted / 434 resolved
+20.8% vs TC avg
Strong +36% interview lift
Without
With
+36.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
20 currently pending
Career history
456
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.7%
-39.3% vs TC avg
§103
91.8%
+51.8% vs TC avg
§102
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
§112
1.0%
-39.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 434 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 . DETAILED ACTION This action is in response to application filed on 12/8/2023. Claims 1, 3-8, 11-18 & 21-25 have been examined and are pending with this action. Priority Examiner acknowledges that the Applicant claims a foreign priority benefit of 371 of PCT/CN2022/087987 filed on 4/20/2022. Drawings The drawings were received on 12/8/2023 and these drawings are accepted. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/26/2025, 10/9/2024 & 12/8/2023 in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Oath/Declaration The Oath/Declaration filed on 12/8/2023 is accepted by the examiner. 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 of this title, 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. Claims 1, 3-6, 11-12 & 21-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (WO 2019066587 A1) in view of Agiwal et al (US 11711132 B2). As per claim 1, Zhang discloses a method for wireless communication (Zhang: “Wireless networks may provide wireless communication to various user equipments (UEs)”), comprising: determining, by a user equipment (UE) configured (Zhang: The UE 110 may monitor transmission indication on the BWP 204 and/or transmit data on the BWP 204 from T2 to T4 for the first serving cell..”), with a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell) (Zhang: “As can be seen in FIG. 2, windows 200 and 220 show switching of active BWPs for first and second serving cells, respectively. The first serving cell may be a primary cell while the second serving cell may be a secondary cell.”), determining, by the UE, a second SR in the SCell (Zhang: “the UE 110 may monitor a PDCCH in multiple serving cells, e.g., a primary cell and a secondary cell, simultaneously)”), Zhang does not explicitly teaches the identification of SR on multiple cells. Agiwal however discloses a a first scheduling request (SR) in the PCell, a first logical channel identifier (ID) being associated with the first SR configured in the PCell (Agiwal: “ identifying that at least one first SR is triggered, identifying whether each of the at least one first SR is triggered for beam failure recovery (BFR) of a secondary cell (SCell), & handling scheduling request (SR) cancellation, random access (RA) prioritization and concurrent occurrence of beam failure recovery (BFR) on primary cell (PCell) and secondary cell (SCell)..”), and Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Zhang in view of Agiwal to figure out the scheduling request in multiple cells. One would be motivated to do so because this technology aid in for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4.sup.th generation (4G) system with a technology for Internet of things (IoT) . (Agiwal). Claim 21 and 24 are rejected based on rationale provided for claim 1. As per claim 3, Zhang in view of Agiwal discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the UE, a second logical channel ID associated with the second SR configured in the SCell to be same as the first logical channel ID associated with the first SR configured in the PCell (Zhang: “a service may include a logical channel (LCH) of the downlink 172 or the uplink 174 with an identification mapped to the configuration associated with the service & , the base station 140 may collect information regarding logical channels associated with the triggered SRs from the UE 110.)”). As per claim 4, Zhang in view of Agiwal discloses the method according to any of claim 1, wherein: a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for transmitting a SR (SR PUCCH) (Zhang: “. The UE 110 may use any PUCCH resource either in a primary cell or a secondary cell to transmit a SR. A secondary cell may also have PUCCH resource used for transmitting a SR..)”) is configured with a repetition factor N, N being a positive integer (Zhang: “Tabel 01 and Tabel 02 discloses integers associated with mapping index of SR in multiple cells)”); and in response to the repetition factor N being larger than one, the UE performs PUCCH cell switching between the PCell and the SCell for determining a slot to transmit a next SR PUCCH repetition based on a PUCCH slot pattern by (Zhang: “FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart 400 of a BWP switching procedure according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.The base station 140 may switch an active UL BWP, at 410. The base station 140 may deactivate the previously activated UL BWP and activate another UL BWP of configured UL BWPs. ”); in response to the first logical channel ID being associated with a SR configured in a next earliest PUCCH slot indicated by the PUCCH slot pattern, the next earliest PUCCH slot is selected to transmit the next SR PUCCH repetition (Zhang: “a service may include a logical channel (LCH) of the downlink 172 or the uplink 174 with an identification mapped to the configuration associated with the service & , the base station 140 may collect information regarding logical channels associated with the triggered SRs from the UE 110. & which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot.”). As per claim 5, Zhang in view of Agiwal discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein: in response to a SR PUCCH being triggered by the first logical channel ID, the UE performs PUCCH cell switching between the PCell and the SCell for determining a slot to transmit the SR PUCCH based on a PUCCH slot pattern by: in response to the first logical channel ID being associated with a SR configured in a next earliest PUCCH slot indicated by the PUCCH slot pattern, the next earliest PUCCH slot is selected to transmit the SR PUCCH (Zhang: “a service may include a logical channel (LCH) of the downlink 172 or the uplink 174 with an identification mapped to the configuration associated with the service & , the base station 140 may collect information regarding logical channels associated with the triggered SRs from the UE 110. & which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot.”). As per claim 6, Zhang in view of Agiwal discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein: in response to a next PUCCH slot in the PCell overlapping in a time domain with a next PUCCH slot in the SCell, the next PUCCH slot in the PCell is selected to transmit the next SR PUCCH repetition (Zhang: “Example 26 may include the method of example 25 or some other example herein, where If a SCell is deactivated, the LCH is immediately mapped to an existing SR configuration or a new SR configuration in another PUCCH SCell or SpCell using MAC CE or dedicated RRC signaling.”). As per claim 11, Zhang in view of Agiwal discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein: a first periodic position of the first SR is configured in a PCell slot a second periodic position of the second SR is configured in a SCell slot and the PCell slot and the SCell slot do not overlap in a time domain (Zhang: “a default SR may be configured either in SpCell or in one of the PUCCH SCells by dedicated RRC signaling. The sr-PUCCH-ResourceIndex may be associated with the UL BWP & a LCH may be mapped to multiple SR configurations each belonging to different BWPs and each having different SR periodicity.”). As per claim 12, Zhang in view of Agiwal discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein: a first period of the first SR is same as a second period of the second SR and a first offset of the first SR is different as a second offset of the second SR (Zhang: “a default SR may be configured either in SpCell or in one of the PUCCH SCells by dedicated RRC signaling. The sr-PUCCH-ResourceIndex may be associated with the UL BWP & a LCH may be mapped to multiple SR configurations each belonging to different BWPs and each having different SR periodicity.”). Claim 22-23 & 25 are rejected based on rationale provided for claims 3 and 4. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 7-8 or 13-14 or 15-16 or 17-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in all independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Both claims must be selected for allowance. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes: Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Sibte Bukhari whose telephone number is (571) 270-7122. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 - 6:00. 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, Vivek Srivastava can be reached on (571) 272-7304. 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). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SIBTE H BUKHARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 08, 2023
Application Filed
Apr 30, 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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+36.2%)
3y 1m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 434 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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