Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/544,369

COORDINATED SPATIAL REUSE IMPROVEMENT FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 18, 2023
Examiner
ELNOUBI, SAID M
Art Unit
2644
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 4m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allow Rate
298 granted / 408 resolved
+11.0% vs TC avg
Strong +22% interview lift
Without
With
+22.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
438
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.9%
-36.1% vs TC avg
§103
57.8%
+17.8% vs TC avg
§102
17.9%
-22.1% vs TC avg
§112
15.8%
-24.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 408 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. Claim(s) 1-6, 9-11, 13-21, and 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (US 20230319886 A1). Regarding claim 1, Wang et al. teach An apparatus for wireless communication ([00120] A coordinating AP) , comprising: memory comprising instructions ([0277] a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium); and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions ([0277] execution by a computer or processor.) to cause the apparatus to: output, for transmission to a first wireless node in a first basic service set (BSS) ([0064] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP), a first frame indicating a capability of the apparatus ([0124] –[0125] An AP may include a MAPS element 500 in its beacons, short beacons, FILS Discovery frames... The MAPS element 500 may include, ... MAPS capabilities 520) to share a transmission opportunity (TXOP) with one or more candidate nodes ([0097] A procedure may be defined for an AP to share its transmission resources (e.g., frequency and/or time) of an obtained TXOP with a set of APs., [0129] The coordinating AP capable subfield 530 may indicate whether the transmitting STA is capable of being a coordinating AP in a MAPS), wherein the one or more candidate nodes include the first wireless node ([0168] The CTI frame may indicate one or more member APs that are being requested to participate in the shared TXOP )and wherein the apparatus is associated with a second BSS different from the first BSS ([0235] In the basic coordinated OFDMA, if a sub-channel (or an RU) is occupied by one AP, other APs in the AP candidate set may not use it to maintain perfect orthogonality in frequency domain if zero inter-BSS interference is not possible., Fig. 15 shows a first BSS comprising shared AP 1501b and its associated STAs 1502c and 1502d, and a second BSS comprising sharing AP AP1 1501a and associated STAS 1502a and 1502b) ; output, for transmission to the first wireless node, a second frame indicating that a first TXOP associated with the apparatus is available to be shared with a group of the one or more candidate nodes ([0167] A coordinating AP or sharing AP may start the multi-AP sounding procedure by sending a CTI frame after obtaining a TXOP. The CTI frame may indicate the purpose of the shared TXOP. The purpose of the shared TXOP may include, but is not limited to: conducting multi-AP sounding, conducting data transmission), wherein the second frame further comprises one or more parameters that indicate one or more constraints on communication during the first TXOP ([0233] the sharing AP (e.g., AP 1 1001a) may perform resource allocation/scheduling algorithm, and send the scheduling table to shared APs (e.g., AP 2 1001b and AP 3 1001c)); and after the first frame and the second frame are outputted, participate in a coordinated transmission with the group of the one or more candidate nodes during the first TXOP using at least one of the one or more parameters ([0172] After receiving the CTAS or NDPA frame, a member AP or an AP that has indicated its willingness to participate in the shared TXOP (i.e., participating AP) and has been assigned a schedule in the received frame may transmit a CAP TXOP Local Schedule (CTLS) or NDPA frames). Regarding claim 2, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to obtain a respective third frame from each of the one or more candidate nodes indicating a capability of the candidate node to share the TXOP with the apparatus ([0165] The member APs of the MAPS may have advertised that they are capable of shared TXOP operations , [0182] At step 610 one or more member APs in a multi-AP set (MAPS) may indicate to a coordinating AP (CAP) that the one or more member APs participate in concurrent or coordinated multi-AP sounding in a shared TXOP. In an example, one or more member APs in the MAPS may transmit or may have transmitted one or more indications indicating that the one or more member APs are capable of the multi-AP sounding during the shared TXOP. The one or more indications may be included in a management frame); and the second frame is outputted ([0182] At step 620, the coordinating AP may acquire a TXOP (or shared TXOP) and send or broadcast a CAP TXOP indication (CTI) to one or more member APs) after the third frames are obtained (Note: step 620 occurs after step 610). Regarding claim 3, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication of the capability of the apparatus comprises a type of coordination between the apparatus and the one or more candidate nodes that is supported during the TXOP ([0233] The sharing AP may also indicate the transmit power used by each shared AP in the upcoming coordinated multi-AP transmissions), Regarding claim 4, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the type of coordination comprises at least one of (i) a transmit power coordination ([0233] The sharing AP may also indicate the transmit power used by each shared AP in the upcoming coordinated multi-AP transmissions), (ii) an interference management coordination, or (iii) a channel state information (CSI), channel quality information (CQI) or interference measurement coordination. Regarding claim 5, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second frame comprises a respective identifier for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group ([0153] one or more member APs or coordinating or sharing AP ID addresses (such as MAC addresses, or MLD IDs) may also be indicated by an AP in the MAPS element, and/or one or more MAPS IDs, which may be included in any frames, [0198] the multi-AP setting may be identified by the AP candidate set ID, AP IDs and/or AP bitmap in the AP candidate set). Regarding claim 6, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of (i) an interference tolerance value of the apparatus during the first TXOP, (ii) a respective throughput degradation value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group during the first TXOP, (iii) a throughput degradation value over a period of time for a respective one or more second wireless nodes associated with each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group, or (iv) a respective transmit power value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group during the first TXOP ([0233] The sharing AP may also indicate the transmit power used by each shared AP in the upcoming coordinated multi-AP transmissions),. Regarding claim 9, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim l, wherein at least one of: the one or more parameters comprise a minimum transmit power level of the apparatus during the first TXOP ([0233] The transmit power may be chosen to be the minimum power which may cover the desired receiving STAs); or the one or more parameters comprise a respective delay degradation value for a respective one or more second wireless nodes associated with each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group during the first TXOP. Regarding claim 10, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of: (i) the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to obtain a first indication of a pre-existing agreement between the apparatus and the group of the one or more candidate nodes to share the first TXOP; and the second frame is outputted after the first indication of the pre-existing agreement is obtained; or (ii) the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to obtain a second indication of at least one of (i) a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with the apparatus at a second wireless node, (ii) a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) being used by the second wireless node ([0195] determine a set of minimum required MCS levels... for each STA, the sharing AP may determine the effective MCS), (iii) a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) at the second wireless node, or (iv) a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) at the second wireless node, the SIR being associated with at least one of the one or more candidate nodes of the group ([0195] the sharing AP may obtain pathloss or RSSI or SINR or other measurements between each pair of the shared AP/sharing and the STA ); and the second frame is outputted after the second indication is obtained ([0195]-[0209] The SINR or pathloss between each AP-STA pair may be obtained from sounding procedure(s) described above …The AP may go through all the PMRMs and pick a resource allocation scheme based on certain criteria, for example, minimum PPDU duration…The sharing AP may transmit the resource allocation information to the shared APs. The sharing AP may carry that in a multiple-AP trigger frame or other type of frames).. Regarding claim 11, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to: obtain an indication of at least one of: (i) a pre-existing agreement between the apparatus and the group of the one or more candidate nodes, (ii) a respective interference metric associated with each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group ([0237] The FIGS. 11 and 12 show that in order to achieve SINR equal or greater than the predetermined minimum required SNR (e.g., 5 dB and 10 dB respectively)) , or (iii) a respective distance between the apparatus and each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group; and select the group of the one or more candidate nodes after the indication is obtained ([0237] The STAs located in the circle areas 1105, 1205 with legend sr=0 cannot allow any non-associated AP to transmit concurrently with its associated AP. The STAs located in the crossing areas 1110, 1210 with legend sr=1 can allow one non-associated AP to transmit concurrently with its associated AP. The STAs located in the square areas 1115, 1215 with legend sr=2 can allow two non-associated AP to transmit concurrently with its associated AP. The STAs located in the triangle areas 1120, 1220 with legend sr=3 can allow three non-associated AP to transmit concurrently with its associated AP). Regarding claim 13, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to: participate in a negotiation with each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group ([0210] the sharing AP may obtain pathloss or RSSI or SINR or other measurements between each pair of the shared AP and the STA and share the information with other APs or the coordinating AP); and select the group of the one or more candidate nodes after participating in the negotiation ([0210] At step 935, the sharing AP may determine the SR patterns and allocated resources to maximize system throughput or minimize the system latency). Regarding claim 14, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim l, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to output, for transmission to each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group, a third frame comprising an indication of the group of the one or more candidate nodes ([0184] the coordinating AP may transmit or broadcast a CAP TXOP AP schedule (CTAS) or null data packet announcement (NDPA) to the one or more member APs. The CTAS or NDPA may indicate a transmission schedule and resource allocations to be performed by the one or more member APs during the shared TXOP. In an example, the CTAS may indicate a transmission schedule for one or more sounding frames to be transmitted by the one or more member APs during the shared TXOP.); and the apparatus participates in the coordinated transmission after the third frame is outputted ([0185] during the shared TXOP, AP 1 which is a coordinating AP may transmit a sounding frame according to the transmission schedule and APs 2-4 which are member APs in a MAPS may transmit sounding frames according to the transmission schedule). Regarding claim 15, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one transceiver configured to transmit the first frame and the second frame ([0045] the transceiver 120), wherein the apparatus is configured as an access point ([0120] A multi-AP set (MAPS) may comprise one or more coordinating AP and one or more coordinated AP.) . Regarding claim 16. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: memory comprising instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to: obtain, from a first wireless node in a first basic service set (BSS) ([0064] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP), a first frame indicating that a first transmission opportunity (TXOP) associated with the first wireless node is available to be shared with a group of one or more candidate nodes ([0167] A coordinating AP or sharing AP may start the multi-AP sounding procedure by sending a CTI frame after obtaining a TXOP. The CTI frame may indicate the purpose of the shared TXOP. The purpose of the shared TXOP may include, but is not limited to: conducting multi-AP sounding, conducting data transmission), wherein the one or more candidate nodes include the apparatus ([0168] The CTI frame may indicate one or more member APs that are being requested to participate in the shared TXOP), wherein the apparatus is associated with a second BSS different from the first BSS ([0235] In the basic coordinated OFDMA, if a sub-channel (or an RU) is occupied by one AP, other APs in the AP candidate set may not use it to maintain perfect orthogonality in frequency domain if zero inter-BSS interference is not possible., Fig. 15 shows a first BSS comprising shared AP 1501b and its associated STAs 1502c and 1502d, and a second BSS comprising sharing AP AP1 1501a and associated STAS 1502a and 1502b), and wherein the first frame further comprises one or more parameters that indicate one or more constraints on communication during the first BSS ([0235] In the basic coordinated OFDMA, if a sub-channel (or an RU) is occupied by one AP, other APs in the AP candidate set may not use it to maintain perfect orthogonality in frequency domain if zero inter-BSS interference is not possible., Fig. 15 shows a first BSS comprising shared AP 1501b and its associated STAs 1502c and 1502d, and a second BSS comprising sharing AP AP1 1501a and associated STAS 1502a and 1502b) after the first frame has been obtained, participate in a coordinated transmission with the first wireless node and the group of the one or more candidate nodes during the first TXOP using at least one of the one or more parameters ([0172] After receiving the CTAS or NDPA frame, a member AP or an AP that has indicated its willingness to participate in the shared TXOP (i.e., participating AP) and has been assigned a schedule in the received frame may transmit a CAP TXOP Local Schedule (CTLS) or NDPA frames). Regarding claim 17, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to obtain, from the first wireless node, a second frame indicating a capability of the first wireless node to share a TXOP with the apparatus ([0097] A procedure may be defined for an AP to share its transmission resources (e.g., frequency and/or time) of an obtained TXOP with a set of APs., [0129] The coordinating AP capable subfield 530 may indicate whether the transmitting STA is capable of being a coordinating AP in a MAPS). Regarding claim 18, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the indication of the capability of the first wireless node comprises a type of coordination between the first wireless node and the apparatus that is supported during the TXOP ([0233] The sharing AP may also indicate the transmit power used by each shared AP in the upcoming coordinated multi-AP transmissions),. Regarding claim 19, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 18, wherein the type of coordination comprises at least one of (i) a transmit power coordination ([0233] The sharing AP may also indicate the transmit power used by each shared AP in the upcoming coordinated multi-AP transmissions), (ii) an interference management coordination, or (iii) a channel state information (CSI), channel quality information (CQI) or interference measurement coordination. Regarding claim 20, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to output, for transmission to the first wireless node, a second frame indicating a capability of the apparatus to share a TXOP with the first wireless node ([0165] The member APs of the MAPS may have advertised that they are capable of shared TXOP operations , [0182] At step 610 one or more member APs in a multi-AP set (MAPS) may indicate to a coordinating AP (CAP) that the one or more member APs participate in concurrent or coordinated multi-AP sounding in a shared TXOP. In an example, one or more member APs in the MAPS may transmit or may have transmitted one or more indications indicating that the one or more member APs are capable of the multi-AP sounding during the shared TXOP. The one or more indications may be included in a management frame); and the first frame is obtained ([0182] At step 620, the coordinating AP may acquire a TXOP (or shared TXOP) and send or broadcast a CAP TXOP indication (CTI) to one or more member APs) after the second frames is outputted (Note: step 620 occurs after step 610). Regarding claim 21, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of (i) an interference tolerance value of the first wireless node during the first TXOP, (ii) a respective throughput degradation value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group during the first TXOP, (iii) a throughput degradation value over a period of time for a respective one or more second wireless nodes associated with each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group, or (iv) a respective transmit power value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group during the first TXOP ([0233] The sharing AP may also indicate the transmit power used by each shared AP in the upcoming coordinated multi-AP transmissions),. Regarding claim 24, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one of: the one or more parameters comprise a minimum transmit power level of the first wireless node during the first TXOP ([0233] The transmit power may be chosen to be the minimum power which may cover the desired receiving STAs); or the one or more parameters comprise a respective delay degradation value for a respective one or more second wireless nodes associated with each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group during the first TXOP. Regarding claim 25, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to participate in a negotiation with the first wireless node ([0210] the sharing AP may obtain pathloss or RSSI or SINR or other measurements between each pair of the shared AP and the STA and share the information with other APs or the coordinating AP); and the first frame is obtained after participating in the negotiation ([0210] At step 935, the sharing AP may determine the SR patterns and allocated resources to maximize system throughput or minimize the system latency).. Regarding claim 26, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to obtain, from the first wireless node, a second frame comprising an indication of the group of the one or more candidate nodes ([0184] the coordinating AP may transmit or broadcast a CAP TXOP AP schedule (CTAS) or null data packet announcement (NDPA) to the one or more member APs. The CTAS or NDPA may indicate a transmission schedule and resource allocations to be performed by the one or more member APs during the shared TXOP. In an example, the CTAS may indicate a transmission schedule for one or more sounding frames to be transmitted by the one or more member APs during the shared TXOP.); and the apparatus participates in the coordinated transmission after the second frame is obtained. ([0185] during the shared TXOP, AP 1 which is a coordinating AP may transmit a sounding frame according to the transmission schedule and APs 2-4 which are member APs in a MAPS may transmit sounding frames according to the transmission schedule). Regarding claim 27, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 26, wherein: the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to participate in a negotiation with the first wireless node ([0210] the sharing AP may obtain pathloss or RSSI or SINR or other measurements between each pair of the shared AP and the STA and share the information with other APs or the coordinating AP); and the second frame is obtained after participating in the negotiation ([0210] At step 935, the sharing AP may determine the SR patterns and allocated resources to maximize system throughput or minimize the system latency). Regarding claim 28, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 27, wherein, in order to participate in the negotiation ([0210] the sharing AP may obtain pathloss or RSSI or SINR or other measurements between each pair of the shared AP and the STA and share the information with other APs or the coordinating AP), the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to output, for transmission to the first wireless node, at least a third frame comprising an indication of at least one of: (i) a pre-existing agreement between the apparatus and the first wireless node, (ii) an interference metric associated with the apparatus ([0210] the sharing AP may obtain pathloss or RSSI or SINR or other measurements between each pair of the shared AP and the STA and share the information with other APs or the coordinating AP , [0237] The FIGS. 11 and 12 show that in order to achieve SINR equal or greater than the predetermined minimum required SNR (e.g., 5 dB and 10 dB respectively)) , or (iii) a distance between the apparatus and the first wireless node. Regarding claim 29, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 16, further comprising at least one transceiver configured to receive the first frame, ([0045] the transceiver 120), wherein the apparatus is configured as an access point ([0120] A multi-AP set (MAPS) may comprise one or more coordinating AP and one or more coordinated AP.). Regarding claim 30, Wang et al. teach a method for wireless communication at a first wireless node ([00120] A coordinating AP) , comprising: outputting, for transmission to a second wireless node, a first frame indicating a capability of the first wireless node ([0124] –[0125] An AP may include a MAPS element 500 in its beacons, short beacons, FILS Discovery frames... The MAPS element 500 may include, ... MAPS capabilities 520) to share a transmission opportunity (TXOP) with one or more candidate nodes ([0097] A procedure may be defined for an AP to share its transmission resources (e.g., frequency and/or time) of an obtained TXOP with a set of APs., [0129] The coordinating AP capable subfield 530 may indicate whether the transmitting STA is capable of being a coordinating AP in a MAPS), wherein the one or more candidate nodes include the second wireless node ([0168] The CTI frame may indicate one or more member APs that are being requested to participate in the shared TXOP) and wherein the first wireless node is associated with a different basic service set (BSS) than the second wireless node ([0235] In the basic coordinated OFDMA, if a sub-channel (or an RU) is occupied by one AP, other APs in the AP candidate set may not use it to maintain perfect orthogonality in frequency domain if zero inter-BSS interference is not possible., Fig. 15 shows a first BSS comprising shared AP 1501b and its associated STAs 1502c and 1502d, and a second BSS comprising sharing AP AP1 1501a and associated STAS 1502a and 1502b; outputting, for transmission to the second wireless node, a second frame indicating that a first TXOP associated with the first wireless node is available to be shared with a group of the one or more candidate nodes ([0167] A coordinating AP or sharing AP may start the multi-AP sounding procedure by sending a CTI frame after obtaining a TXOP. The CTI frame may indicate the purpose of the shared TXOP. The purpose of the shared TXOP may include, but is not limited to: conducting multi-AP sounding, conducting data transmission), wherein the second frame further comprises one or more parameters that indicate one or more constraints on communication during the first TXOP ([0233] the sharing AP (e.g., AP 1 1001a) may perform resource allocation/scheduling algorithm, and send the scheduling table to shared APs (e.g., AP 2 1001b and AP 3 1001c)); and after outputting the first frame and the second frame, participating in a coordinated transmission with the group of the one or more candidate nodes during the first TXOP using at least one of the one or more parameters ([0172] After receiving the CTAS or NDPA frame, a member AP or an AP that has indicated its willingness to participate in the shared TXOP (i.e., participating AP) and has been assigned a schedule in the received frame may transmit a CAP TXOP Local Schedule (CTLS) or NDPA frames). 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) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. in view of Ren et al. (US 20190124631 A1). Regarding claim 12, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to: output, for transmission to each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group, a third frame comprising an indication of the group of the one or more candidate nodes ([0184] the coordinating AP may transmit or broadcast a CAP TXOP AP schedule (CTAS) or null data packet announcement (NDPA) to the one or more member APs. The CTAS or NDPA may indicate a transmission schedule and resource allocations to be performed by the one or more member APs during the shared TXOP. In an example, the CTAS may indicate a transmission schedule for one or more sounding frames to be transmitted by the one or more member APs during the shared TXOP.). Wang does not teach randomly select the group of the one or more candidate nodes or perform a round robin selection of the group of the one or more candidate nodes In a similar endeavor, Ren et al. teach randomly select the group of the one or more candidate nodes or perform a round robin selection of the group of the one or more candidate nodes (Ren [0356] a network side may randomly and dynamically select any quantity of TRPs from the N nodes). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified Wang et al. by incorporating Ren et al. random selection to arrive at the invention The motivation of doing so would have simplified the selection of candidate nodes. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 7-8 and 22-23 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: . Regarding claim 7, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 6, but do not teach wherein the respective transmit power value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group is associated with a respective overlapping bandwidth of the candidate node and the apparatus. Regarding claim 8, Wang et al. do not teach the apparatus of claim 7, wherein the respective transmit power value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group comprises an adjusted transmit power value associated with a portion of the respective overlapping bandwidth of the candidate node and the apparatus. Regarding claim 22, Wang et al. teach the apparatus of claim 21, but do not teach wherein the respective transmit power value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group is associated with a respective overlapping bandwidth of the candidate node and the apparatus. Regarding claim 23, Wang et al. do not teach the apparatus of claim 22, wherein the respective transmit power value for each of the one or more candidate nodes of the group comprises an adjusted transmit power value associated with a portion of the respective overlapping bandwidth of the candidate node and the apparatus. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAID M ELNOUBI whose telephone number is (571)272-9732. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM to 6:00PM ET. 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, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 571-270-5371. 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. /SAID M ELNOUBI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 18, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 12, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
73%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+22.3%)
2y 4m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 408 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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