Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/559,628

MODULARIZED DESIGN FOR INTER-PHYSICAL LAYER PRIORITY UCI MULTIPLEXING

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Nov 08, 2023
Examiner
WONG, WARNER
Art Unit
2469
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 10m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allow Rate
936 granted / 1048 resolved
+31.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +6% lift
Without
With
+6.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
41 currently pending
Career history
1089
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.1%
-33.9% vs TC avg
§103
56.3%
+16.3% vs TC avg
§102
24.7%
-15.3% vs TC avg
§112
2.8%
-37.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1048 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 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 1-5, 9-13 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yin (US 2023/0318748), as evidenced by provisional application 63/061765. Regarding claim 1, 9 and 17, Yin describes a user equipment (UE)/method of a UE/non-transitory computer medium including instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), (fig. 1, UE 102, implementable by computer readable medium to execute instructions, para. 200), comprising: [one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: (fig. 4 UE 402 with processor 403 & memory 405 to run its method)] encoding one or more high priority (HP) hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) bits into a first portion of uplink control information (UCI) at a first code rate r.sub.1; encoding one or more low priority (LP) HARQ-ACK bits into a second portion of the UCI at a second code rate r.sub.2; and transmitting the UCI to a base station in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (fig. 1 & para. 14 (provision) or para. 18 (non-provisional), UE 102’s encoder 150 encodes HP HARQ ACK bits with separate code rate than LP HARQ ACK bits, where UE is configured with two maximum code rates for a [single] UCI multiplexing of HARQ-ACK with different priorities on a single PUCCH (uplink to base station), para. 36 (provisional) or 40 (non-provisional)). Regarding claims 2, 10 and 18, Yin describes: encoding one or more HP scheduling request (SR) request bits into the first portion of the UCI at the first code rate r.sub.1 (para. 14 in view of para. 38 & 47 (provisional) or para. 18 in view of para. 42 & 51 (non-provisional), PUCCH can include SR signals (request bits), where PUCCH reporting comprises the high priority HARQ ACK with SR in the high priority UCI [part/portion]). Regarding claims 3, 11 and 19, Yin describes: encoding one or more LP scheduling request (SR) request bits into the second portion of the UCI at the second code rate r.sub.2 (para. 14 in view of para. 48 (provisional) or para. 18 in view of para. 52 (non-provisional), PUCCH can include SR signals (request bits), where PUCCH reporting comprises the low priority HARQ ACK with SR in the low priority UCI [part/portion]). Regarding claims 4, 12 and 20, Yin describes: encoding one or more channel state information (CSI) report bits into the first portion of the UCI at the first code rate r.sub.1 (para. 93 (provisional) or para. 90 (non-provisional), UE multiplexes HARQ-ACK, SR, & CSI reports (bits) in a PUCCH transmission, which can be place within the two (different) maximum code rates for a [single] UCI for multiplexing of HARQ-ACK with different priorities on a single PUCCH (uplink to base station), para. 36. (provisional) or para. 40 (non-provisional). See also para. 47-48 (provisional) or para. 51-52 (non-provisional)). Regarding claims 5 and 13, Yin describes: encoding one or more channel state information (CSI) report bits into the second portion of the UCI at the second code rate r.sub.2 (para. 93 (provisional) or para. 90 (non-provisional), UE multiplexes HARQ-ACK, SR, & CSI reports (bits) in a PUCCH transmission, which can be place within the two (different) maximum code rates for a [single] UCI for multiplexing of HARQ-ACK with different priorities on a single PUCCH (uplink to base station), para. 36 or para. 40 (non-provisional). See also para. 47-48 (provisional) or para. 51-52 (non-provisional)). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 6-8 and 14-16 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. Regarding claims 6 and 14, the prior art fails to further explicitly describe: determining a first rate matching output sequence length for the first portion of the UCI based on a number of the HP HARQ-ACK bits and a number of HP scheduling request (SR) bits of the first portion of the UCI. The closest prior art, Yin describing rate matching based on the maximum coding rate of the URLLC and eMBB PUCCH configuration (para. 49), and Zhang (US 2024/0089928) describing terminal device determining that the total rate matching output sequence length after rate matching of the HARQ-ACK of high priority and the HARQ-ACK of low priority is 480 (para. 118), in combination, fail to render the above additional features as a whole obvious. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Yin (US 2024/0146466) describing multiplexing order for hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) with different priorities and scheduling request (SR) (abstract), Li (US 2023/0354404) describing determining first target UCI and second target UCI multiplexed on a target PUSCH for transmission, wherein the priority of the first target UCI is a first priority, and the priority of the second target UCI is a second priority (abstract), Li (US 20210321394) describing UCI transmission method including: when UCI having different priorities is transmitted on the same target channel, encoding the UCI having different priorities respectively and then transmitting same on the target channel, wherein the priorities of the UCI are determined by information contained in target parameters of DCI and/or in UCI, the DCI being DCI corresponding to being used for indicating the transmission of the UCI (abstract), Yin (US 2023/0284225) describing PUCCH resource selection and multiplexing of HARQ-ACK with different priorities on PUCCH (abstract), Yin (US 2023/0379916) and (US 2023/0379094) and (US 2023/0155720) each describing low priority HARQ-ACK and high priority HARQ-ACK based on the determined joint coding. The UE further transmits the multiplexed HARQ-ACK on the PUCCH (abstract), Islam (US 2021/0250134) describing UE configured multiplexing HARQ-ACK Bits of different priorities in PUCCH transmission (title), Takahashi (WO 2021152804) describing 1 shot HARQ-ACK feedback for HARQ-ACK with different priorities by using a common code book (abstract), Zhang (US 2023/0300840) describing terminal determines or would transmit at least two PUCCHs which are overlapped, the at least two PUCCHs including a first PUCCH and a second PUCCH, the first PUCCH having a first priority index and carrying or corresponding to a first UCI, the second PUCCH having a second priority index and carrying or corresponding to a second UCI, transmitting, by the terminal, the first UCI and the second UCI in a third PUCCH, wherein different code rates are used for the first UCI and the second UCI (abstract), Zhang (US 2022/0225380) describing transmitting UCI to the first type of transceiving node, wherein, if multiple PUCCHs with UCIs of different priorities overlap in a time domain, the multiple PUCCHs are multiplexed and/or prioritized (abstract), and Yang (US 2022/0217709) describing UE may separately encode lower priority uplink control information (UCI) and higher priority UCI, and multiplex the encoded lower priority UCI and the encoded higher priority UCI on the same physical uplink channel (e.g., a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The UE may be configured with multiple coding rates, which the UE may select from based on a payload size associated with each of the lower priority UCI and the higher priority UCI (abstract). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WARNER WONG whose telephone number is (571)272-8197. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am - 3:30pm. 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, Ian Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. 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. WARNER WONG Primary Examiner Art Unit 2469 /WARNER WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 08, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (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
89%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+6.3%)
2y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1048 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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