Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/570,509

TERMINAL, RADIO COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND BASE STATION

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 14, 2023
Priority
Jun 24, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTJP2021023990
Examiner
O CONNOR, BRIAN T
Art Unit
2465
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
NTT Docomo Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
756 granted / 888 resolved
+27.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
925
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.1%
-37.9% vs TC avg
§103
66.3%
+26.3% vs TC avg
§102
24.0%
-16.0% vs TC avg
§112
1.9%
-38.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 888 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 . This office action is in response to Applicant’s preliminary amendment filed on 12/14/2023. Claims 7-11 are currently pending. 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. Claims 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gao et al. (US 2023/0284235 A1; hereafter GAO). With respect to claim 7, GAO discloses a terminal (412-3, 412-4, 412-1 of FIG. 4) comprising: a receiver (1736 of FIG. 17) that receives a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0020]) that configures a single frequency network (SFN) scheme for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6); and a processor (1738 of FIG. 17) that: when capability information indicating support of dynamic switching between the SFN scheme and a single transmission/reception point (TRP) is transmitted (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), determines that one or two transmission configuration indication (TCI) states are indicated for a control resource set (CORESET) used for reception of the PDCCH, and when the capability information is not transmitted, determines that two TCI states are indicated for the CORESET (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6). With respect to claim 8, GAO further discloses wherein: when one TCI state is indicated for the CORESET, the processor controls to apply the single TRP for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and when two TCI states are indicated for the CORESET, the processor controls to apply the SFN scheme for the PDSCH (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6). With respect to claim 9, GAO discloses a radio communication method (Abstract & Title) for a terminal (412-3, 412-4, 412-1 of FIG. 4), comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0020]) that configures a single frequency network (SFN) scheme for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6); and when capability information indicating support of dynamic switching (paragraph [0164], [0181]) between the SFN scheme and a single transmission/reception point (TRP) is transmitted (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), determining that one or two transmission configuration indication (TCI) states are indicated for a control resource set (CORESET) used for reception of the PDCCH (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), and when the capability information is not transmitted, determining that two TCI states are indicated for the CORESET (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6). With respect to claim 10, GAO discloses a base station (402-1, 402-2, 406-1 of FIG. 4) comprising: a transmitter (1112 of FIG. 12; 1724 of FIG. 17) that transmits, to a terminal (412-3, 412-4, 412-1 of FIG. 4), a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0020]) that configures a single frequency network (SFN) scheme for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6); and a processor (1104 of FIG. 12; 1730 of FIG. 17) that: when capability information indicating support of dynamic switching (paragraph [0164], [0181]) between the SFN scheme and a single transmission/reception point (TRP) is received from the terminal, controls to indicate one or two transmission configuration indication (TCI) states for a control resource set (CORESET) used for reception of the PDCCH (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), and when the capability information is not received from the terminal, controls to indicate two TCI states for the CORESET (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6). With respect to claim 11, GAO discloses a system (400 of FIG. 4) comprising a terminal (412-3, 412-4, 412-1 of FIG. 4) and a base station (402-1, 402-2, 406-1 of FIG. 4), wherein the terminal (412-3, 412-4, 412-1 of FIG. 4) comprises: a receiver (1736 of FIG. 17) that receives a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (paragraph [0020]) that configures a single frequency network (SFN) scheme for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6); and a processor (1738 of FIG. 17) that: when capability information indicating support of dynamic switching (paragraph [0164], [0181]) between the SFN scheme and a single transmission/reception point (TRP) is transmitted (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), determines that one or two transmission configuration indication (TCI) states are indicated for a control resource set (CORESET) used for reception of the PDCCH (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), and when the capability information is not transmitted, determines that two TCI states are indicated for the CORESET (500, 502, 504, 506 of FIG. 5; 600, 604 of FIG. 6), and the base station (402-1, 402-2, 406-1 of FIG. 4) comprises: a transmitter (1112 of FIG. 12; 1724 of FIG. 17) that transmits the RRC signaling (paragraph [0020]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T O'Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-1081. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri Flex 10am-6:30pm. 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, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. 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. /BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 December 13, 2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 14, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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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
85%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+8.4%)
2y 10m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 888 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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