Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/565,776

TERMINAL APPARATUS, BASE STATION APPARATUS, AND METHOD

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 30, 2023
Examiner
TRAN, MONG THUY THI
Art Unit
2645
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 5m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allow Rate
647 granted / 751 resolved
+24.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
768
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.2%
-35.8% vs TC avg
§103
58.2%
+18.2% vs TC avg
§102
11.4%
-28.6% vs TC avg
§112
13.5%
-26.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 751 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 Office Action is in response to the Applicant's communication filed on 11/30/2023. In virtue of this communication, claims 1 – 5 have been canceled; claims 6 – 10 have newly added. Claims 6 – 10 are currently pending in the instant application. Claim Objections Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: there is repeat word “terminal” in line 2. It should be changed to “base station” (see claim 6). Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 3. 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. 4. Claims 6 – 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (hereinafter “Wu”) (EP 2,211,573 A1) in view of Di Girolamo et al. (hereinafter “Di Girolamo”) (Pub # US 2024/0187140 A1). Regarding claims 6 and 10, Wu discloses a method for a terminal apparatus (i.e., WCD/UE, see FIG. 5A) in for communicating with a base station apparatus (i.e., a network backbone, see FIG. 5A), the method comprising: receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message from the base station apparatus (see S500 in FIG. 5A, [0046] for the network backbone sends the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the MobilityControllnformation message to the WCD, thus the WCD receives); and resuming a radio bearer based at least on that the RRC reconfiguration message is the first RRC reconfiguration message received after successful completion of an RRC reestablishment procedure (see S504 – S512 in FIG. 5A, sere [0046] for radio bearer resumption, and see [0047] – [0049] for the WCD determines the received RRCConnectionReconfiguration message is the first received RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the MobilityControllnformation message after successful completion of the RRC connection re-establishment, the WCD resumes the suspended signaling radio bearer, i.e., SRB2 and the suspended data radio bearers, i.e., DRBs). Wu does not disclose the radio bearer for a Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS). In an analogous art, Di Girolamo discloses the Wireless communication device or the WTRU/UE (102 in Fig. 1B) include processor (118) and a transceiver (120) including transmit/receive elements (122) for receiving wireless signals and MBS is offered over new radio, which includes protocols for coordinating the mobility of the WTRU (see Di Girolamo, [0002], [0168]). Di Girolamo also discloses the radio bearer for the MBS (see Di Girolamo, [0004] for the WTRU configured to receive multiplexed MBS services via one or more MBS radio bearers (MRB) and/or one or more unicast data radio bearers (DRBs), see embodiment 61 in [0351] – [0353] for resume PDCP entity radio bearers of the inactive MBS session). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Wu, and have the radio bearer for a Multicast Broadcast Service, as taught by Di Girolamo, such that provides efficiently multiplex MBS services and improves the reliability of MBS transmissions, as discussed by Di Girolamo (see Di Girolamo, [0002]). Regarding claim 8, Wu discloses a base station apparatus (i.e., a network backbone, see FIG. 5A) for communicating with a terminal apparatus (i.e., WCD/UE, see FIG. 5A), the base station apparatus comprising: transmit a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message to the terminal apparatus (see S500 in FIG. 5A, [0046] for the network backbone sends, thus transmits, the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the MobilityControllnformation message to the WTRU); and cause the terminal apparatus to resume a radio bearer for a Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) based at least on that the RRC reconfiguration message is the first RRC reconfiguration message received after successful completion of an RRC reestablishment procedure(see S504 – S512 in FIG. 5A, sere [0046] for radio bearer resumption, and see [0047] – [0049] for the WCD determines whether (thus cause the WCD to determine) the received RRCConnectionReconfiguration message is the first received RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the MobilityControllnformation message after successful completion of the RRC connection re-establishment, then the WCD resumes the suspended signaling radio bearer, i.e., SRB2 and the suspended data radio bearers, i.e., DRBs). Wu does not disclose the radio bearer for a Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS). In an analogous art, Di Girolamo discloses the base station (114 in Fig. 1A, see [0149], [0154], [0168]) includes processor (91) and a transmitter (i.e., communication circuitry, alone or in combination with the processor, is used to perform the transmitting and receiving), and MBS is offered over new radio, which includes protocols for coordinating the mobility of the WTRU (see Di Girolamo, [0002], [0168]). Di Girolamo also discloses the radio bearer for the MBS (see Di Girolamo, [0004] for the WTRU configured to receive multiplexed MBS services via one or more MBS radio bearers (MRB) and/or one or more unicast data radio bearers (DRBs), see embodiment 61 in [0351] – [0353] for resume PDCP entity radio bearers of the inactive MBS session). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Wu, and have the radio bearer for a Multicast Broadcast Service, as taught by Di Girolamo, such that provides efficiently multiplex MBS services and improves the reliability of MBS transmissions, as discussed by Di Girolamo (see Di Girolamo, [0002]). Regarding claims 7 and 9, Wu in view of Di Girolamo disclose wherein delivery mode 1 is defined for the radio bearer for the MBS, and the delivery mode 1 is used for delivery of multicast (see Di Girolamo, [0197]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Wu, and have delivery mode 1 is defined for the radio bearer for the MBS, and the delivery mode 1 is used for delivery of multicast such that provides high QoS (reliability, latency) requirement, as discussed by Di Girolamo (see Di Girolamo, [0197]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONG-THUY THI TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM - 6PM (IFP). 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, ANTHONY ADDY can be reached at (571)272-7795. 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. /MONG-THUY T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 30, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 16, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §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
86%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+14.3%)
2y 5m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 751 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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