Office Action Predictor
Application No. 18/573,934

METHOD PERFORMED BY USER EQUIPMENT, AND USER EQUIPMENT

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 22, 2023
Examiner
DEAN, JR, JOSEPH E
Art Unit
2647
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 6m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

87%
Career Allow Rate
650 granted / 747 resolved
Without
With
+15.5%
Interview Lift
avg trend
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
26 pending
773
Total Applications
career history

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.1%
-34.9% vs TC avg
§103
44.5%
+4.5% vs TC avg
§102
28.8%
-11.2% vs TC avg
§112
8.2%
-31.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data

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 . Applicant cancelled claims 1-10 before the first office action. Status of claims: Claims 11-16 are pending in this office action. Specification The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 11-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Paladugu et al. (US20210352767) (hereinafter Paladugu). Per claim 11, Paladugu discloses User equipment (UE), comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions (paragraph 0011 processor and memory), wherein the instructions, when run by the processor, are executable to: receive an RRCReconfiguration message with a first PC5 Radio Link Control (RLC) release indication from a base station (paragraph 0128, 15, i.e. the configuration release is triggered by the BS 110 using the message shown by reference number 1510. For example, the BS 10 may initiate release of the remote UE 120's unicast link upon success of a sidelink to radio access mobility operation ,also see paragraph 0087, Fig 3 and 4, communication between stacks of the remote UE is indicated by the lines shown by reference number 350. The line between the NR-PDCP entity and the PC5-RLC entity indicates how a message [e.g., an NR RRC message generated by the radio access protocol stack] that is not encapsulated in a sidelink signaling container, such as a PC5-S container, might be communicated from the radio access stack to the PC5 stack for transmission via the sidelink interface where examiner interprets how protocol stack(PC5) and radio link (RLC) is interpreted view in view of Fig 15), set a second PC5 RLC release indication in an RRCReconfigurationSidelink message based on the first PC5 RLC release indication in the received RRCReconfiguration message (paragraph 0128, As shown by reference number 1520, the relay UE 120 may release the remote UE 120's relaying connection or sidelink unicast link, and may release relaying support for the remote UE 120 over the radio access link. and transmit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message to another UE (paragraph 0105, Fig 5, i.e. as yet another example, an NR RRC release message (described elsewhere herein) may indicate to release an association between a remote UE and a relay UE) . Per claim 12, Paladugu discloses the UE according to claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable to: in a case that the RRCReconfiguration message includes a Uu RLC release indication, release a Uu RLC entity (paragraph 0229, Fig 5, release, ref. 550, the configuration may be for the connection between the remote UE and the relay UE and for a link with the network entity (such as a radio access link, which may be a Uu link, between the relay UE and the network entity and 0229, A relaying channel may include, for example, an RLC channel). Per claim 13, Paladugu discloses the UE according to claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable to: re-establish a PC5 RLC entity for a Signaling Radio Bearer 1 (SRB 1) before transmission of an RRCReestablishmentRequest message to a base station in a case that the UE is a layer (L2) UE-to-Network (U2N) remote UE (paragraph 0126, i.e. . In some aspects, the remote UE index may be included by the remote UE 120 in communications relating to connection resumption from an inactive state or during RRC reestablishment procedures or the NG-RAN may request this update due to an indication from the relay UE 120 that the source Layer 2 or destination Layer 2 identifier corresponding to the sidelink unicast link between the remote UE 120 and the relay UE 120 is to be updated and 0115, i.e. the relay UE 120 may relay SRB or DRB traffic over a relay path. For example, a sidelink SRB may be used for sidelink control plane signaling. One or more access stratum SRBs, such as SRB0 (which may be for RRC messages using a common control channel), SRB1 (which may be for RRC messages and NAS messages prior to establishment of SRB2, examiner interprets that SRB1 is prior to established connection, where SRB3 may set up for NR connection). Per claim 14, Paladugu discloses the UE according to claim 11, wherein the instructions are further executable to: re-establish a PC5 RLC entity for a Signaling Radio Bearer 1 (SRB 1) upon reception of an RRCRelease message with a suspendConfig from a base station in case that the UE is a layer (L2) UE-to-Network (U2N) remote UE (paragraph 0125, i.e. In the first and second cases described above (associated with options 610 and 620), the relay UE 102 may release and reestablish the corresponding radio access RLC bearer, and see paragraph 0115, One or more access stratum SRBs, such as SRB0 (which may be for RRC messages using a common control channel), SRB1 (which may be for RRC messages and NAS messages prior to establishment of SRB2), SRB2 (which may be for RRC messages that include logged measurement information as well as NAS messages after security activation), and/or SRB3 (which may be for RRC messages in dual connectivity such as over radio access and sidelink links) may be set up for an NR connection). Per claim 15, refer to same rationale as explained in claim 11, except examiner interprets this UE as a relay UE or the other UE. Per claim 16, refer to same rationale as explained in claim 11. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH E DEAN, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-7116. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-3:30. 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, Alison Slater can be reached at 571-270-0375. 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. /JOSEPH E DEAN, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 22, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 05, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102
Mar 30, 2026
Response Filed

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+15.5%)
2y 6m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 747 resolved cases by this examiner