Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/564,741

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL (PUCCH) TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Nov 28, 2023
Examiner
LEE, JUSTIN YE
Art Unit
2644
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Lenovo (Beijing) Limited
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 3m
To Grant
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allow Rate
563 granted / 703 resolved
+18.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +11% lift
Without
With
+10.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
13 currently pending
Career history
716
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
§103
52.6%
+12.6% vs TC avg
§102
18.0%
-22.0% vs TC avg
§112
14.6%
-25.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 703 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 . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/27/24 and 5/9/25 are being considered by the examiner. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. Claim(s) 1-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cheng et al. (US 2020/0053721 A1). Consider claim 16, Cheng teaches a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (abstract), comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Fig. 31, all UE would include a memory and a processor) and configured to cause the UE to: receive information for determining a plurality of beams (Fig. 30, step 3002 and Fig. 6, the PUCCH resource ID may indicate one of the ten configured PUCCH resources); receive a beam indication indicating at least one beam of the plurality of beams to be used for transmission of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource (Fig. 30, step 3004 and Fig. 6 and paragraph 81); and transmit the PUCCH resource according to the beam indication (paragraph 3-4 and 53-54). Consider claims 1 and 23, claims 1 and 23 having similar limitations as claim 16, therefore, claims 1 and 23 are rejected for the same reasons claim 16 is rejected. Consider claim 8, claim 8 is a base station claim which transmits to and receives from the UE of claim 16 and having similar limitations as claim 16. Therefore, claim 8 is rejected for the same reasons claim 16 is rejected. Consider claims 2, 3, 9 and 17-18, Cheng also teaches wherein the beam indication is transmitted in at least one of configuration information of the PUCCH resource, or configuration information of a PUCCH resource group at least comprising the PUCCH resource (Fig. 6 and paragraph 56, 66 and 113-114). Consider claims 4, 11 and 19, Cheng also teaches wherein the beam indication is received in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) associated with the PUCCH resource, and the MAC CE indicates an identity of a serving cell for which the MAC CE is applied and an identity of a bandwidth part (BWP) for which the MAC CE is applied (Fig. 5-6 and paragraph 71 and 93). Consider claims 5, 12 and 20, Cheng also teaches wherein the MAC CE indicates an identity of the PUCCH resource or an identity of another PUCCH resource in a PUCCH resource group at least comprising the PUCCH resource (Fig. 6 and paragraph (Fig. 6 and paragraph 56, 66 and 113-114). Consider claims 6, 12 and 21, Cheng also teaches wherein for the PUCCH resource group, the MAC CE comprises an identity of only one PUCCH resource of the PUCCH resource group (Fig. 6 and paragraph 56, 66 and 113-114). Consider claims 7, 14 and 22, Cheng also teaches wherein the plurality of beams is a first beam and a second beam, and the beam indication indicates at least one of the first beam or the second beam for the PUCCH resource (Fig. 5 and 6 and paragraph 3-4, 56, 66, 111 and 113). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN YE LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5258. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-8:00. 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, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 5712705371. 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. /JUSTIN Y LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644 3/20/26
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 28, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 20, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12604241
CELL CAPABILITY INDICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS, CELL RESELECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12598613
UPLINK SIGNAL TRANSMISSION METHOD, TERMINAL, AND STORAGE MEDIUM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12584989
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSOCIATING RF SIGNALS WITH AN INDIVIDUAL
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12588002
Paging Configuration and Power Saving for Inactive or Idle Wireless Mobile Terminals
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12550024
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 10, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (+10.9%)
3y 3m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 703 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month